Meditation Mondays: Journey Through the Sermon on the Mount

I often choose one book to study deeply for a few months at a time. In the past it’s been Romans, Ephesians, 1 &2 Samuel, and Ruth. I give myself absolutely no timeline. Sometimes I’ll read through the entire book each day, sometimes I’ll read a verse a week. I have no end time either. For someone who is usually caught up in checking the boxes, this brings me great freedom and delight to studying and read the bible this way.

I strive to be in the Word daily, but I get so much more out of studying the bible slower and meditating on it throughout the week. I find the the slower I go, the deeper His word implants into my heart and renews my mind.

So in January I found myself asking a lot of people “What do you go through with people who are new believers? A curriculum? Scripture? A book? I must have asked 20 people, okay or the whole staff at the church, and got lots of responses.

That’s when I realized, why wouldn’t I go through exactly what Jesus took His disciples through, His own words! I decided to spend time studying the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) for the next few months.

So for the next few Mondays, my hope and goal is to write about what I’m learning as I journey through the Sermon on the Mount. I’ll call it Meditation Mondays.

Meditation: continued or extended thought; reflection; contemplation. The Eastern philosophy of meditation is to empty your mind. The biblical philosophy is to fill it . . . with God's word, with truth, to transform and renew your thinking (Romans 12:1-2)

I will post what I’m learning from Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount and what I will be thinking about and reflecting on for that week.

Come back and visit on Mondays and share what you are meditating on for the week! Or better yet, join me on the journey and read along in Matthew 5-7.

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1-2)

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:8)

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 
With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! 
I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:9-11)

I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. (Psalm 119:15-16)