Reclaiming Mindfulness: Meditating & Staying Groundedنموونە

And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Beth-el, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places which he had made. So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Beth-el the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense. 1 Kings 12:26-28, 30-33 (KJV)

Jeroboam partnered with the devil to prevent God's people from worshipping the true God. Jeroboam's strategies reflect how the enemy distorts or perverts God's original purpose. Every time you see a counterfeit, know that there is an original. 2 Corinthians 11:4 says, "Satan masquerades as an angel of light."

Jeroboam forgot the God who brought him to the throne and His conditional promises (1 Kings 11:29-39), he began to seek ways to stay reigning as a king without God's help. The unfortunate thing is that he did not only turn away from God, but he also turned people away as well.

Like Jeroboam, satan seeks to distract God's people with doctrines, philosophies, or practices that can turn our hearts away from God to idolatry- the glorification of self and God's creation.

God in His faithfulness is bringing the Church to a place where we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. Ephesians 4:14-15 (NLT)

You may be wondering, what have these got to do with mindfulness?

As a student, I turned down several invitations to practice secular mindfulness (Initially, for the sake of my conscience. Later, for Biblical reasons). I learned about breathing in and exhaling lovingkindness, grounding techniques, meditation, increasing self-awareness, becoming one with nature, environmental personhood, and more.

When I turned to God's Word to learn what the creator of the universe says about these concepts and ideas, I realized biblical truth and practices were being distorted and lies were presented as truth. I call it a case of Jeroboam.

Colossians 2:8-9 (NLT) says, "Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

All the fullness of God lives in Christ, and Christ lives in you. You are complete through your union with Christ. So, the completeness, peace, or fullness your spirit, soul, and body truly desires is being united with Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:16 (AMP) states, "For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND and PURPOSES OF THE LORD, SO AS TO INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ [to be guided by His thoughts and purposes]."

If you have the mind of Christ, you have true mindfulness- a mind full of life, peace, goodness, love from above. So, seek the mind of Christ, to be guided by His thoughts and purposes.