You Have to Meditate to Know If it Works or Not!
I know it can be difficult to meditate consistently. I really do. I get it. You need to be in control. You need to know it’s working. You need quick results and you need to have assurance that being still, meditating for 20 minutes, dwelling in God’s presence(you mean just sitting there alone and doing nothing) is going to change your life. It can’t be that simple. No, instead I need to read a book, pray for an hour a day, attend a Bible study, take a class, talk about it, or analyze it to I’m blue in the face. Here’s something I noticed, all of these attempts begin with “I” and require us doing something in our own wisdom and strength.
But as Einstein brilliantly stated, we can’t change using the same thoughts or mindsets that created the situation in the first place (paraphased). If we could have fixed ourselves, wouldn’t we have already done it? If we could think our way out of situations, wouldn’t we always make the right choices and decisions? The Bible tells us that the the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Most of us give up way before we see our breakthroughs. We want quick fixes and results with the least amount of effort.
God’s way and thoughts are not our ways and thoughts. His are so much higher and much more powerful. Paul said that God confounds the wise out through the simplicity of the Gospel, because we want to make it complicated.
Jesus says, surrender, abide, be still, sit, trust, have faith, and obey, but that’s too hard because we equate physical effort with success. All the above take the onus off of us and put them on God. Often the best thing we can do is get out of the way and let God have His way.
Yes I understand that just sitting with God 20 minutes a day defies all logic, when you could really be accomplishing something during that time. It is often the very thing that we resist most, that if we will just do it, will have the greatest impact on our lives.
I remember when I was in Jamaica in 2016 for a week-long retreat up in the mountains. I was staying alone in a cute little cabin with no air conditioning, not even a fan. (I found out at the end of the retreat that fans were available.) However that first night I literally couldn’t see how I was going to make it to the end. It was so hot and humid in that little room. It almost felt like I was in my own personal living nightmare. I just knew that it was too hot to fall asleep.
So at bedtime the compensate for the heat, I took off most of my clothes (sorry if that’s too much information) and here is what happened, the sweat from my body cooled me off and I slept like a baby. I learn several lessons that week, that I can endure more than I think I can, I don’t know everything, and I have not because I as not. Sometimes we have to move through the darkness, without understanding or assurances, to get to the light.
The thought of spending 20 minutes a day just being, too many will be like 1) torture or 2) a waste of time, but just do it anyway.
“Try to Let Go Of Your Expectations and Just Do It For Now.”
If you really want to know if Christian meditation works, you have to do it. Do it for 8 to 10 weeks consistently before evaluating your progress. That is the only way you will know if you have benefited from it. Are you calmer? Do you have less negative thoughts? Do you get along better with your friends and co-workers? Do you feel closer to God? Many times the results are so subtle that you don’t notice them until you do.
Make a contract with yourself or a commitment to God that you will do it at least five to seven times per week. Just add it to your schedule or “to-do” list!
You can start by taking one of the assessments on our homepage and keep your score. Then at the end of eight to ten weeks take it again. Therein lies the concrete evidence of whether it worked or not. So get out of your head and onto whatever position feels comfortable and meditate.
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