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These are days when a premium is set upon doing, rather on on being or quietly meditating. We are what we think; therefore it is very important to regulate our thoughts. And there is no better subject to apply our minds to than divine things.
By quiet meditation I don’t mean just reading; because if all we do is read, then our mind becomes full of other men’s thoughts. Meditating is an exercise of the mind, and, like other parts of us, the mind can only gain strength by exercise. We must read, yes; but we must not stop there. We must chew over what has been read, and weigh it all in the balances of our mind and judgment–learn to discern between good and evil.
Meditation also involves prayer.
A meditating man is one who is acquainted with the thoughts and opinions of other men, but who has opinions and conclusions of his own. He knows what he believes, and he knows why he believes it. This gives him a certain authority–an authority that can never belong to a mere parrot. The result is that the meditating man (assuming that his meditations are upon the Scriptures) is loyal to truth, not to any system of doctrine or to the writings or sayings of this or that person. –EC