Michael Harrison's e-devotion

This is the last day I share the Navigators’ Hand Illustration (click THIS LINK to learn more) for this week and the last point of the illustration that can make a huge difference in how we interact with the Bible.   See the picture above for the pieces of the illustration. Meditation is the last piece of the hand illustration.   We have talked about each important part which includes Hearing, Reading, Studying, Memorizing and now Meditating on the Word of God.   The Bible is not intended to be a good book to talk about or just a set of stories or framework for sermons.   The Bible, the very Word of God, is intended to penetrate our hearts and cover every part of our lives. God calls us to meditate on the things that we learn from the Bible.   Meditating has been said to be like what a cow does when it eats.   The cow will chew it’s food, them chew it some more and then chew it even more.   We can chew on the truth of the Bible a lot. ...

As I have shared before, Henri Nouwen is one of my favorite writers.   Here is a devotion from his “Daily Meditations” about meditation: When Jesus says:  "Sky and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away" (Luke 21:33), he shows us a direct way to eternal life.  The words of Jesus have the power to transform our hearts and minds and lead us into the Kingdom of God.  "The words I have spoken to you," Jesus says, "are spirit and they are life"  (John 6:63). Through meditation we can let the words of Jesus descend from our minds into our hearts and create there a dwelling place for the Spirit.  Whatever we do and wherever we go, let us stay close to the words of Jesus.  They are words of eternal life. Those are incredible thoughts about our hearts absorbing what God says.   To believe the truth of Scripture we must allow what runs through our heads to sink deep into our hearts as Nouwen wrote about. How can we on a...