Christian Mindfulness – Embracing the Tempo of Heaven

“Mindfulness” is such a buzzword today. I promise, I’m not bringing it up to try to sound cool, or to ruffle feathers. I bring it up because certain components have been really impactful for me and I would say are totally supported in scripture.

In my opinion, it’s not a solid practice to avoid something just because it’s popular in the world or because we don’t want to be seen as embracing spiritual practices that aren’t readily acknowledged as “Christian approved.”

If your spiritual practice is filled with Holy Spirit (the Spirit that lives in you as a believer), He probably loves it. And if He wants to correct it a bit, let Him tell you that. That’s why we invite Him to search our hearts (Ps. 139).

Anyway, just wanted to present that disclaimer at the outset.

Now I want to explain what I mean by Christian mindfulness and how I believe it is one of the most powerful and underused tools in modern (let’s say “mainstream”) Christianity.

The specific components of the practice of mindfulness that I want to highlight from a Godly perspective are:

Be present
Be still
Drop preconceptions

When I’m talking about Christian mindfulness, these are the keys I’m referring to. I expect that even just reading those points you can start to imagine Holy Spirit impressing those things on you – maybe He’s actually doing so even now.

Or maybe you need to keep reading first and He’ll do it later 😉

Be present…

I don’t know about you, but this is a S T R U G G L E for me. God has been showing me how my tendency to procrastinate, and my desire to consume entertainment whenever I’m not “busy” are both rooted in an unwillingness to be present. It’s avoidance.

Furthermore, I’ve always been a nostalgic person, and I also like to plan for or dream about the future.

Those things aren’t wrong. In fact, I believe God created me to be that way and love those things. But if I can’t be content with right now, sometimes nostalgia or planning are tools I use to escape the discomfort or dissatisfaction of the present.

Life on autopilot

How much of the time are we living life on autopilot, mind elsewhere? Like when you leave work and drive home and you realize you don’t even know how you got home because the whole drive was just subconscious. We do so many things without thinking about it.

I’m not saying let’s all start over-complicating simple tasks like driving by paying attention to every little thing your body is doing (not that there’s anything wrong with that if you really want to haha). But what is your brain doing during those tasks?

Probably thinking about the next thing you have to do. “What should I make for dinner? Did I remember to send that email? What can I get done this weekend? I should plan a trip. Oh, I need to reach out to [insert long lost friend here].”

What if you were being present? Again, not saying to obsess over watching yourself go through your autopilot drive, as if having an out of body experience. Best answer:

God in the present – His presence

Acknowledge the presence of the Holy Spirit that’s living in you.

Yeah, God’s in you. At all times. Right now. Right where you are.

God is outside of time, so sure, He’s in the future. He’s in the past. But we’re stuck in time, so the present is literally a present from Him to allow us to connect with Him.

Even if you think back to an old memory and He shows you something about it, He still spoke to you in the present, perhaps from the past (I’m not concerned about how that all works logistically), but in the present you are receiving it.

When God showed up to Moses, He called Himself the I AM. Present tense.

Distraction and avoidance

Our modern world has more distractions than any time in history. There is so much available to you if you want to “check out” and not deal with life. The more we practice checking out, the more it becomes our default way of being and we forget how to even be present and engage with what’s actually happening.

We go to a party and spend the whole time interacting with our phones instead of people (maybe that’s just my fellow introverts).

We finish our workday and we turn on the TV instead of connecting with people or with God.

I think you get the idea – learning to be content in the present and in touch with what’s happening in the moment is a huge key to being attuned to what God is doing and saying and breaking free from the damaging habits and patterns of thought that often run our lives unchecked.

So take a deep breath, and be present. Observe the sights and sounds around you. Tune in to Holy Spirit’s presence, and let Him speak.

Be still…

Along the same lines, or at times a natural result of being present, is being still.

Am I going to drop the verse? Of course I am!

“Be still and know that I am God.”
– Psalm 46:10

I think that’s pretty good biblical foundation for this one, amiright?

When you can master being present, and take it one step further by also being still, you’re going even further to eliminate distraction.

See, I don’t know about you, but I like to try and multitask. I feel like the smart phone era has created this monster in me. If I’m only doing one thing (with the exception of work or something that requires all my focus), I feel like I’m wasting my time – or at least, not using it to the fullest.

Obviously if I’m “being present” it takes away a decent amount of my ability to multitask, but even fidgeting or doing one thing with my body and something else with my mind can involve a certain amount of unwillingness to really engage with the present. At some level I’m antsy or eager to be “accomplishing” multiple things at once.

I’m not saying I’m swearing off multitasking, I’m just saying, when it comes to practicing Christian mindfulness, stillness is as important, and in many ways as difficult, as being present.

When you let yourself be still, it’s an act of trust: “…know that I am God.” In other words, you aren’t. There is nothing in all your busyness that is necessary to keep the world spinning.

Our inability to be still has nothing to do with how important we are. God is over all. He is our Father and He has given us all things that pertain to life and Godliness as our inheritance (2 Peter 1:3). It’s not on us to attain or even maintain, as if our well-being is fragile.

Infinite resources in God

He is the God of infinite resource. How so? He speaks and things come into existence. He multiplies our meager offerings.

Things aren’t running out. That includes time. He’s time’s author. And He isn’t inhibited by its rules. I believe we’re invited to live according to heaven’s rules just like Jesus did. “Your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Why not ask Him to slow time down? Maybe something that usually takes you 2 hours “somehow” only takes you one, and now you have an extra hour to spend with Him. Experiment with it – think outside the box!

But regardless whether time slows down or not, there’s no reason you can’t. Be still. Trust Him. He is God. Know that. Breathe in, breathe out, and feel His peace.

You don’t need to keep running. It won’t all fall apart. If it does, He probably wants it to. Invite Him into that discomfort and see what His plan of redemption is.

Drop preconceptions…

“…assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
– Matthew 18:3

Often we struggle to hear from God because we think we already know everything. We read the bible and gloss over the parts that we “already know.” We listen to a sermon and tune out when it starts to tread familiar territory.

The idea of dropping preconceptions is to return to a childlike innocence. Let yourself be taught anew. Humble yourself and acknowledge that the depths of God are unknowable, even to the point of scripture having many layers, and “familiar” concepts going deeper than you thought.

Don’t approach this time of Spirit-filled mindfulness focused on all the things you think you know. Let go of those things and let Him speak. Invite Him to speak as you slow down and be still and present.

Do you trust Him? Then don’t be afraid of what He might say.

If you’re afraid of hearing things that don’t line up with your theology, first of all, Jesus said things like that to the Pharisees all. the. time. But that said, there’s no rule that you have to believe everything you hear. By all means, run it by people you trust, run it through the word, and I would especially ask Him for clarification and confirmation, because, again, approach it like a child and check your heart.

“…knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.”
– 1 Corinthians 8:1-2

Don’t fear the enemy more than you trust in God. The enemy only has authority if you give it to him. So don’t do that. Have checks and balances in place to safeguard against deception, but don’t let fear of deception rob you of greater levels of freedom and breakthrough. I mean, you’re no less loved or saved if you do, but I’m just encouraging you to reach higher.

Humble yourself to a heart of childlike wonder, and let Him teach you anew.

Practicing Christian mindfulness…

Just to get a bit practical, if you’re desiring to practice Christian mindfulness, these are the steps you’re encouraged to take:

Take a moment to be still. Stop doing anything besides sitting (or standing) in place.
Actively encourage your mind to be present. You’ll probably get distracted, but just keep coming back to the now. Take those thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).
Take deep breaths. This will help you to be still and be present. It will also help you to slow down internally.
- Think about it – was Jesus ever in a hurry? Ever rushed or rushing? On the contrary, the disciples and others were often offended by his lack of hustle (remember Lazarus??).
- He didn’t seem to be on their tempo. Whose tempo do you prefer? I definitely want to learn to be comfortable with the tempo of heaven. Jesus’ tempo. Things are not running out. It’s not an emergency. Breathe in. Breathe out. It’s gonna be ok.
As you still yourself, tune into the present, slow down internally, facilitating all of this with deep breaths, let yourself be in a position of humility and invite Holy Spirit to do and say whatever He wants. Give Him room to move.

These are the components that I embrace in practicing mindfulness as a Spirit-filled believer.

You might not hear anything at first, and that’s ok. I don’t always hear something.

You probably will get antsy and wrap it up quickly at first. That’s ok too. The same happens to me.

The point is to make it a practice and give Him space to show up and speak.

The more you set aside time and space and actually slow down your internal mechanisms that are constantly running at breakneck speed, the more you will learn to cultivate a lifestyle of being present and not letting emotionally driven reactivity or the desire to “check out” be the default setting anymore.

Even if all you get is marginally closer to heaven’s tempo and internal peace, and farther removed from avoidance, emotionalism, and chaos, that’s a pretty big win.

So try it. What have you got to lose? A lot less than you have to gain.