Be the Peace

If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever. 

(Thomas Aquinas)

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. (James 1:22-25 NLT)

It is easy to listen to God's word, while it is a bit harder to actually get up and do what it says. As Aquinas said, we have to actually 'leave port' if we are to get anywhere. Too many times, we hear God's word, then go off without giving it any thought. His word isn't meant to just tickle our ears. It is meant to change our hearts. It is good to 'read' his word, but when we actually begin to 'meditate' upon it, it has a chance to actually sink in and change areas of our life that need a bit of changing.

Meditation upon God's word isn't some exercise in deep breathing and slowing one's heart rate. It actually carries the idea of a process of continually recalling what is we have read throughout the day. I have heard it said it is like an 'active pondering'. When we 'ponder', we are thinking about it carefully, so it influences our decisions and actions. In the process of 'meditating' upon God's word, we might just find a little conversation beginning to occur. The conversation is between us and God because we are listening and we begin to hear him speaking to us in a certain area of our lives.

Yes, silence and even a time alone can be part of meditating upon his word, but I have found myself pondering it even in the midst of chaos. There is just something that stimulates our heart to consider his word over and over again throughout our day. That 'something' might just be the Holy Spirit at work within us, causing us to not only delight in the 'intake' of his word, but in the 'feeding upon' his word as we go throughout the day. 

If we were to summarize the intent of meditating upon his word, it would not just be to be at peace in this troubled world. It would also encompass the challenge of changing our hearts and minds so that we can be the peace in this world that helps other troubled souls. Just sayin!