Delight in Scripture

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Christian on the Mount, Preface: “The Saint’s Spiritual Delight.” To attain [a] blessed delight in the law of God, three things are required: 1. Set a high estimate upon the Word. What the […]

What’s on your mind?

Since it is true that there are certain things that should occupy our thoughts, it is also true that there are certain things that should have no place in our minds:

The sinner’s pathway – redirected

Neither a farmer nor a rancher am I. Yet for at least two weeks during a couple summers of my youth, I became a “temp” farmer, working on my uncle’s dairy farm. It was a time not only for a “city-slicker” to be exposed to some life realities, but also a fun time with my […]

What God has done

For the past two days, I have been meditating on the first part of Ps. 40:5 — Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us… The words are penned by David and I have pondered what kinds of things he might have contemplated as he considered […]

Day and night meditation

I am neither a farmer nor a rancher. Yet for at least two weeks during a couple of summers in my youth, I became a “temp” farmer, working on my uncle’s dairy farm. It was a time not only for a “city-slicker” to be exposed to some life realities, but also a fun time with […]

Look to the matter of your meditation

Transformation in the life of the believer begins with a renewal of the mind (Rom. 12:1-2; Eph. 4:22-24). So what kinds of things should be the focus of the believer’s meditation so that his mind is daily transformed to the image of Christ? Stephen Charnock provides some answers [I’ve formatted this in a block paragraph […]

Are you hungry?

“Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.” (1 Peter 2:2-3; NASB) When our children were younger, we kept a growth chart for them on the inside of a closet door in our […]

Meditating on God in everyday events

Biblical meditation is filling our minds with the truth of God and then contemplating and thinking on that truth. Typically we think of meditation as something done in conjunction with reading our Bibles, and that certainly is part of meditation. However, as Thomas Watson demonstrates, meditation can be stimulated as we go through our day, […]

Meditate on sin…and forgiveness

Reading Psalm 51 this morning is a reminder of the power and pervasiveness of sin. And of the grace of forgiveness. We do well to meditate on both, as Thomas Watson exhorted in The Christian on the Mount: Meditate upon the FILTH of sin. Not only is the guilt of Adam’s sin imputed, but the […]

The lovingkindness of God

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised” (Ps. 48:1). The words are familiar to us. He is great. We do praise Him. But do we think on Him in ways that are fitting of Him? Do we consider His character and His activities and recognize them as the facets of greatness that they […]

I have set the Lord continually before me

Contemplating Psalm 16:8-9, Spurgeon [in The Treasury of David] outlines the importance and benefits of an ongoing consideration of and meditation on God: A sense of the divine presence our best support. It yields, 1. Good confidence concerning things without. I shall not be moved. 2. Good cheer within. My heart is glad. 3. Good […]

Preaching to yourself

I recently picked up and began reading Joe Thorn’s book, Note to Self. The book is about the discipline of meditation and especially the art of meditating on the gospel so that the gospel increasingly guides our thinking and actions. Justin Taylor did an interview with Joe Thorn in which they discussed the purpose and […]

How to profit from your Bible reading

Bible reading is profitable. Sometimes it’s more profitable than at other times. How might we read the Scriptures so we received the greatest value from them? How about starting with a commitment? Saving money, losing weight, driving the speed limit, and speaking graciously all begin with a commitment to consistently follow through on a particular […]

What we think is what we are

It seems so innocent, really. It’s just a fleeting thought about a single wayward dalliance. Or maybe it’s just a brief longing for a slight but sweet revenge. Or lingering look at an indulgent — and way-beyond-your-means — purchase. Or the contemplation of a series of stinging retorts that weren’t said and wouldn’t be said, […]

Thinking about our thoughts

David longed for words and meditations that were acceptable to God — words both inward and outward that reflected a heart conformed to the character of God. Solomon notes that the inward thoughts of a man reveal the very character of a man — it is not what he does but what he thinks that […]