Your meditation on God’s Word will never cease to pay rich dividends of joy, wisdom, peace, maturity, and fellowship with God and others. God’s Word will become a source of life and the world, the flesh, and the Devil will look more and more like the dead ends that they are. You will begin to learn to feed your faith on God’s Word in general. You will see the true meaning of verses like John 4:13-14, "Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’ " Remember, Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:14). Knowledge of Scripture is knowledge of Christ.

During a Q & A at the end of Pastor Jay Wegter’s time with us, I asked Jay what how he practically meditates on Scripture. He mentioned color-coding themes in his Bible. I was delighted to hear this as I also have used color coding for many years. Here’s the way I do it. I use an 8-color mechanical pencil from Pentel (to order one online go to http://www.frontlinemin.org/bookstore.asp and click on "Bibles." You’ll see it listed first at the best price you can find). The colored pencil is better than ink because it won’t bleed through the thin Bible paper. Then I highlight verses according to the following colors which I just made up myself: Red (salvation, redemption, repentance), green (prophecy), light blue (commands, Christian living, doctrine), royal blue (eternity, heaven, millennium), brown (sin, judgment, curse), orange (golden promises), yellow (miscellaneous). Jay also mentioned writing down cross references in his Bible. I encourage you write in your Bible as well. Use the empty spaces in the front or page to jot down outlines or summaries that you want to remember and reflect upon.

Along with writing down your observations and responses to your meditation on Scripture, make an effort to see the infinitely surpassing value of believing God’s Word rather than the fleeting and vain promises of sin. As John Piper said, "Faith is also being confident that His way is better than sin. His will is more wise. His help is more sure. His promises more precious. And His reward more satisfying." When you train yourself to think this way, you will have spiritual power to live in holiness.

Cost/Benefit Analysis. Here’s one way you can do this: Jay Wegter suggests that we "systematically build a case for obedience and a case against disobedience with an exhaustive list of benefits for the former and negatives of the latter." Take some time to write lists like this down in your journal. Yes, it will be a fight to make the time and to discipline your mind to think through this, but the rewards are immeasurable. Your heart will follow what your mind chooses to dwell on. The benefits of obedience will begin to look far better than the supposed benefits of disobedience and you will begin to find the desire to obey welling up in you. There is a cost/benefit or pleasure/pain dimension to all of the choices we make. What we need is wisdom to choose that which will lead to the greatest benefit or pleasure regardless of the cost or pain involved.

Points to Ponder. Begin writing down a list somewhere that you can turn to again and again (a journal, for example) of summary points of spiritual truth that help you think biblically about your spiritual life. Every time you hear or think of a concise way of stating a biblical truth that can help you think and live biblically, write it down in your list. A beginning list of examples will be included in my next blog post.

A Suggested Text for Meditation.Begin practicing meditation on Colossians 3:1-17. The opening four verses are crucial and pave the way for the practical commands which follow. Begin with serious, personal reflection on the first four verses which can be outlined this way (This outline is from Jay Wegter, "Christ Our Life," available online at: http://www.frontlinemin.org/christlife.asp):

I. Our life in Christ is to be pondered (vv. 1-2)
II. Our life in Christ is presently hidden (v. 3)
III. Our life in Christ is to be revealed (v. 4)