Meditation is something God commanded His people to do in the Bible. The Message Bible translates Psalm 1:2’s meditation as to “chew on Scripture day and night”. That means it’s not just reading the words in the Bible, but engaging with them deeply with our thoughts, feelings, and emotions, taking them in as if they are truly our food and daily bread.

The Easter season is a constant meditation, one lasting forty days into Holy Week. It may start with a regular morning devotion, but it is meant to be a continuing practice throughout the day. To meditate (Hebrew, hagah or siyah) both alludes to verbal groanings (i.e. talking aloud to God, or singing His praises), as well as mentally thinking and pondering.

But it doesn’t matter whether we are loud or quiet. In our fast-paced lives, we might stop for a minute, slow down, and pay special attention to what God is doing, allowing ourselves to engage emotionally with Scripture.

As we meditate on what Jesus has done for us this Easter, we’re also urged to confess (Greek homologeo; literally, “same word;” to agree, admit, and acknowledge) the ways in which we nailed Him to the cross. It’s not literal, of course, but if Christ is crucified for our sins, then it’s our sin that has, in part, placed him there.

To sin (Hebrew, khata) is to miss the mark of God’s perfect will, and today is a good day to look within and acknowledge how we have hurt others, ourselves, and God. Easter reminds us to take confession seriously, because we recognise that Jesus suffered because of our sin.

The Bible makes it clear that God desires a relationship with us and wants us back, and our response can only be awe and wonder at what He has done – taking responsibility for our failures so that we may live to do what is right.