I heard in a recent sermon that “we will not find peace through meditation.” The context was that peace comes from God, not things of the world. It got me thinking.
I was probably around seven when I first started joining my dad in karate. One of my favorite childhood memories was an evening bike ride to the old building where sweaty men punched and grunted at each other.
This would’ve been the early 80s, and a lot of the guys who trained had been GIs stationed somewhere in Asia. They brought martial arts practice home after their enlistment. “Everybody’s Kung Fu fighting.”
They brought home other things as well. One being an affinity for Asian culture, because of the impact on that age of their life. And meditation was a big part of these early karate classes. I remember my dad teaching me to sit cross-legged and meditate before I was old enough to go to school. It was his solution whenever I said that I couldn’t sleep.
It wasn’t like the guided meditation I use now. We sat still and straight, and there was complete silence for at least five minutes at the beginning and end of every class. Mostly silent… sometimes the panting of people who had just free-sparred. Then, a jarring handclap, which echoed through the room, signaled our stop. I remember asking my dad what I was supposed to think about when we were meditating. He told me that was a good question, and I felt great pleasure in asking and thinking about the right thing. His answer was to think of something beautiful, like a sunset or a wave crashing on a beach. But as he was beginning to seek God, he later told me to meditate on scripture.
Since then, most of my religious teaching has been that Eastern meditation like this is very dangerous. So dangerous, you should at least be skeptical and maybe not meditate at all. That’s why I rejected yoga until I was almost 40. It sounds funny out loud, but the idea was that: if the enemy has copied anything of God—you should abstain from it. I spent time in a denomination that believed in cessation. They used the fact that prophecy and the gift of tongues were counterfeited in pagan religions—so it should have no place among believers. If the world finds benefit in it, you should not touch. God is enough.
Within our homeschool community, there was an analogy that a banker never studies counterfeit money. They focus only on actual, true money so they aren’t confused about what is real when something else comes their way. They know only inerrant truth, and can spot the fake a mile away. This is one reason some faiths discourage higher (secular) education.
This incestuous silo produces church kids who graduate, get married and work for the church bookstore, coffee shop or pastoral staff without ever leaving the churchyard. But at least they marry as virgins!
A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 is a sweet little book that was much like listening to an elderly pastor tell anecdotes about why humans are like sheep. I found some lovely nuggets in it, but I realized how pervasive the concept is for our American church not to look outside… our American church.
The author writes, “In the Christian life, most of our contamination by the world, by sin, by that which would defile and disease us spiritually comes through our minds. It is a case of mind meeting mind to transmit ideas, concepts, and attitudes that may be damaging. Often it is when we “get our heads together” with someone else who may not necessarily have the mind of Christ that we come away imbued with concepts that are not Christian. Our thoughts, our ideas, our emotions, our choices, our impulses, drives, and desires are all shaped and molded through the exposure of our minds to other people’s minds. In our modern era of mass communication, the danger of the “mass mind” grows increasingly grave.”
He compared sharing ideas to sharing scab. A parasite sheep transfer by touching heads together in greeting.
There is truth in his quote. But all I can think about is the great alienation and isolation of people who silently slink out of church. 
Most of the Calvarys that I attended had some flavor of this God is enough or I can do all things through Christ. Therefore, if you had enough God, you never needed a seminary degree, therapy, or antidepressants. One church I knew went so far as to say it didn’t just have to be Christian; it had to be Calvary-initiated in order to be sanctioned. This particular fellowship wouldn’t use the Awana program because it wasn’t written by a Calvary pastor. It was easy for me to live in this “We are the only ones who have the full truth” churchyard because I became a Christian in a Southern Baptist Church, which also thinks they are the only ones saved.
Am I not Christian enough for the Christian club?
The disciples had this thought, too. They wanted to stop other people from driving out demons because they weren’t in the same church clique, I mean, denomination. Interestingly, Jesus said “If they are not against us, they are for us.” He told his disciples to leave that non-sanctioned group of demon-casting believers alone. What a strange concept! That other church down the road is not against us? That public service for domestic violence, who is cleaning up the aftermath of church oppression, is not against the kingdom?!
When you look at things of the world and find value, remember that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Lights. So if it is good—it is from him. Even if it has a scary or foreign name like psychotherapy or amoxicillin.
I’ve got questions for the pharmacy and questions for the church.
Knowing those names can be lifesaving. And staying relevant to the changing tides of culture is not something to fear if you understand that God has not abandoned this generation. He didn’t abandon the previous one. And he will be faithful to this one even though they’re getting a lot of facial piercings.
Even Paul used idioms and colloquialisms, and Jesus was aware of current sociopolitical events. (Notice how Jesus didn’t rant about the world going to hell in a handbasket or how the people should feel towards Pilate. The application was for followers to look into their own lives and be changed amid their specific sociopolitical situation.)
We now know through science that our brains thrive with meditation and repetitive liturgy. So you can assume God designed it that way. He certainly knows about it because he instituted solutions for our brains in our religious disciplines. In Confronting Christianity, Rebecca McLaughlin writes in the intro, Aren’t we better off without religion, about seven biblical principles built into our church experience that benefit us. Weirdly, they have been shown to benefit humans even if they do them outside of the church experience. Things like gratitude, contentedness, and generosity. Prayer and meditation…
Lean into all of your resources. If it is good, it is from God. Should Christians use AI? Should Christians use curriculum if it was written by a different church? Should Christians read mystics or use medicine? How do we verify what is Christian-y enough?
Let me say it this way: if it benefits humanity outside of a religious context, can the church still touch it?
Good stewards of the garden will navigate the balance between permissible and beneficial. Not letting our gifts or our resources master us, but accessing everything we need in our sphere.
Sure, you will not find your salvation in meditation, but you will not find it through a Petri dish of church attendance either.
But that’s a prevalent thought in the church. Another quote from a Shepherd looks at Psalm 23, “Some of my friends have been among the most learned and highly respected scientists and professors in the country. Yet about them there is often a strange yearning, an unsatisfied thirst that all their learning, all their knowledge, all their achievements have not satisfied. To appease the craving of their souls and emotions, men and women will turn to the arts, to culture, to music, to literary forms, trying to find fulfillment. And again, so often, these are amongst the most jaded and dejected of people.”
So I want to ask you, what happens when you find believers in the church who are also jaded and dejected?
Just because it’s holy water, does it mean that we can’t drown?
It creates confusion when the church tells people, “you won’t be satisfied in the world,” but generations are growing up unsatisfied in the church. And you meet someone who meditates, and they are peaceful.
God can use anything in heaven or earth. Don’t avoid education or resources of the world because you only want to be moved by the Spirit. Whether you’re over-educated or over-medicated or undereducated and under-medicated, life is hard.
You probably won’t find a quick diagnosis and corresponding pill, and you definitely won’t find a one-and-done salvation prayer to provide a life of peace and pleasure. But keep seeking. You will find. But then, you will still have to keep seeking because he’s newly needed each day.
One of my prayer partners shared a podcast this week. Her elevator pitch was a quote where the podcaster said he was always told you don’t have to check your brain at the door to follow Jesus but over the 25 years he pastored a mega church, he realized you kinda did have to check your brain at the door to follow evangelicalism. If that resonates with you, check it out.
If you stand on the threshold of the house he describes, and see your kids playing in the yard or street, maybe it’s time to ask, “Is this truly good?” And then let the answer change you in the midst of your cultural or sociopolitical situation.