You are here: Home / Thomas à Kempis

The Imitation of Christ on Seeking God’s Help and Trusting in Him

September 12, 2010 By Randy Olds Leave a Comment

A good friend of mine and I have often related to each other how hard it seems to go to God in the midst of our troubles. We have both had the experience of finding it much harder to seek after God in prayer and meditation during trials than it is during times of peace and comfort. Why is it so much more difficult to pray during the times when we need to be praying the most?

During my quiet time in “The Imitation of Christ” this evening I found that this problem seems to be more universal that I thought. As I picked up where I had left off in chapter 30 of Book Three, Thomas a Kempis aptly illustrated this dilemma as well as the cure:

The Voice of Christ

MY CHILD, I am the Lord Who gives strength in the day of trouble. Come to Me when all is not well with you. Your tardiness in turning to prayer is the greatest obstacle to heavenly consolation, for before you pray earnestly to Me you first seek many comforts and take pleasure in outward things. Thus, all things are of little profit to you until you realize that I am the one Who saves those who trust in Me, and that outside of Me there is no worth-while help, or any useful counsel or lasting remedy.

But now, after the tempest, take courage, grow strong once more in the light of My mercies; for I am near, says the Lord, to restore all things not only to the full but with abundance and above measure. Is anything difficult for Me? Or shall I be as one who promises and does not act? Where is your faith? Stand firm and persevere. Be a man 143 of endurance and courage, and consolation will come to you in due time. Wait for Me; wait—and I will come to heal you.

It is only a temptation that troubles you, a vain fear that terrifies you.

Of what use is anxiety about the future? Does it bring you anything but trouble upon trouble? Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. It is foolish and useless to be either grieved or happy about future things which perhaps may never happen. But it is human to be deluded by such imaginations, and the sign of a weak soul to be led on by suggestions of the enemy. For he does not care whether he overcomes you by love of the present or fear of the future.

Let not your heart be troubled, therefore, nor let it be afraid. Believe in Me and trust in My mercy. When you think you are far from Me, then often I am very near you. When you judge that almost all is lost, then very often you are in the way of gaining great merit.

Note: I have been blogging through “The Imitation of Christ” for the last month or so. Initially I anticipated reading through this book over the course of a couple of weeks, but I have slowed my reading down to a mere page or so a day, posting occasionally when I come across something really significant that I want to share. I have found this book to be like a glass of fine wine, to be slipped very slowly so as to savor for as long as possible.

Filed Under: Thomas à Kempis, Uncategorized Tagged With:

“The Imitation of Christ” Book Two Thoughts

August 25, 2010 By Randy Olds Leave a Comment
Note: part 5 of a series as I live-blog my reading of “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas a Kempis

After a fairly lengthy delay, I have finally finished Book Two in Kempis’ “The Imitation of Christ”. I got sidetracked with my wife’s surgery, and then got involved in another book, Predestination and Free Will: Four Views of Divine Sovereignty and Human Freedom, of which I will post a review of later this week, but I finally got back into it yesterday. I had actually read through the entirety of Book Two a couple of weeks ago, but since it was the smallest of the four books (only twenty pages), I decided to read through it again.

Whereas Book One focused primarily on Humility, Book Two was more about the concept of taking up your own cross and following Christ. Throughout Book Two, emphasis on being willing to suffer for Christ was repeated again and again. At one point Kempis gos so far as to state; “When you have reached the point that trouble is sweet to you, something to be relished for Christ’s sake, you may reckon that all is well with you; you have found heaven on earth.” Book 2.12.11

However, one of the quotes from Book Two that I found that I identified with the most was a little earlier. Kempis writes:

Jesus today has many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few to carry His cross; many who yearn for comfort, few who long for distress. Plenty of people He finds to share His banquet, few to share His fast. Everyone desires to take part in His rejoicing, but few are willing to suffer anything for His sake. There are many that follow Jesus as far as the breaking of the bread, few as far as as drinking the cup of suffering; many that revere His miracles, few that follow Him in the indignity of the cross;  many that love Jesus as long as nothing runs counter to them; many that praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him; but should Jesus hide from them and leave them for a while, they fall to complaining or become deeply depressed.” Book 2.2.1

I wonder what Kempis would think of the current days “Prosperity Gospel?”



Filed Under: Suffering, Thomas à Kempis, Trials and Tribulations Tagged With:

“The Imitation of Christ” on Humbly Dealing with Interpersonal Strife

July 31, 2010 By Randy Olds Leave a Comment
Note: part 5 of a series as I live-blog my reading of “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas a Kempis

It seems to me that God is speaking to me through this little Book even when I am not looking for it. Today my prayers have been for God to help me show His grace and love even to those people to whom I am not naturally inclined to wish to show such grace to. For whatever reason God has seen fit to allow me to be placed into a situation where I am going to have to spend quite a bit of time with a person with whom I am not overly fond of (and I am quite sure that the feeling is mutual).

Additionally, there are a couple of other people with whom I am associated with who continue to be a thorns in my side. It seems at times that these individuals simply want to get some sort of reaction out of me by their words and actions. At times it seems that they are intentionally striving to bring out the old pre-Christian Randy who in times past would have reacted with spite and venomous words.

I suppose that everybody has these types of situations from time to time. Whether it be an in-law, a nosy neighbor, an annoying co-worker, an oppressive supervisor or even an overbearing parent, we are often placed in situations where we have to spend extended periods of time with people who tend to bring out the worst in us. Sometimes this might only be for a day or so as with a visit to in-laws with whom we may have had previous disagreements and at other times it might be for years as with an irritating neighbor or co-worker that we just can’t seem to get away from.

After praying again on the subject, I spent some time this evening thumbing through my Bible looking for the appropriate scriptures for what I am dealing with in these situations, and although I know where to go for Jesus’ and Paul’s familiar words on loving our enemies and being ambassadors for Christ and such, I was hoping to discover something new. Perhaps some sage scripture that I had missed before or maybe just read over, not realizing the full import of it.

After an hour or so of looking for the “Just Right” verse with no luck, I decided to take a break from the Bible and go back to my reading of “The Imitation of Christ.” I had just finished Book One yesterday, so I set forth to conquer Book Two. About a third of the way down on page four of Book Two the answer that I was digging through my Bible for was waiting for me;

“BE NOT troubled about those who are with you or against you, but take care that God be with you in everything you do. Keep your conscience clear and God will protect you, for the malice of man cannot harm one whom God wishes to help. If you know how to suffer in silence, you will undoubtedly experience God’s help. He knows when and how to deliver you; therefore, place yourself in His hands, for it is a divine prerogative to help men and free them from all distress.

It is often good for us to have others know our faults and rebuke them, for it gives us greater humility. When a man humbles himself because of his faults, he easily placates those about him and readily appeases those who are angry with him.

It is the humble man whom God protects and liberates; it is the humble whom He loves and consoles. To the humble He turns and upon them bestows great grace, that after their humiliation He may raise them up to glory. He reveals His secrets to the humble, and with kind invitation bids them come to Him. Thus, the humble man enjoys peace in the midst of many vexations, because his trust is in God, not in the world. Hence, you must not think that you have made any progress until you look upon yourself as inferior to all others.” Book 2; 2.1

Wow!

I have learned that God speaks to me in many different ways and it is not always in the manner in which I expect. Sometimes the answers come quickly, sometimes not. I suppose that God was saving this little portion of my book for when He knew that I would be in need of it.

I have read this little passage over and over again since God showed it to me. I think that this may be one that I will have to write down on an index card and carry along with me for the next few weeks. I’ve carried around Bible verses on index cards at times when I needed a particular verse to give me strength, so I think that I’ll do the same with this quote by Kempis.

As I have written previously here and here, Humility is an area of my life that I know that God wants me to improve in. I used to be a very proud, arrogant and even narcissistic person, and those un-Christlike character traits are still a part of me that I struggle with at times. So what I have here, in these situations with certain people that I have difficulties with, are opportunities for me to grow in humility.

I have begun to learn that there is always more than one way of looking at a life situation that is uncomfortable for me. I can either whine and complain about it, or I can look at it as an opportunity for spiritual growth. It seems to me that my current situation is one that God is giving me so as to have an opportunity to grow in Humility. So along with His help, as well as Thomas Kempis’ helpful words, spiritual growth, Humility, and becoming more Christ-like is what I will seek after as I walk the path that God has laid out before me.

Filed Under: Book Review, humility, Thomas à Kempis, Trials and Tribulations

“The Imitation of Christ” Book One Thoughts

July 30, 2010 By Randy Olds Leave a Comment
Note: part 5 of a series as I live-blog my reading of “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas a Kempis

I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I began “The Imitation of Christ”, but so far I have gotten much more than what I bargained for.

I just finished Book One, entitled “Practical Advice About the Spiritual Life” (the book is comprised of four “books”), and I wanted to jot down my thoughts about what I have read so far.

First, for those who are not familiar with this writing, it begins to become clear somewhere through the middle of first book that the intended audience of the book was initially for those entering life in a monastery. Basically, it was a book written by a Catholic monk for other monks, but obviously the appeal of the book spread far beyond Kempis’ original target audience.

There obviously were a few references to living in a monastery that I originally dismissed as “does not apply”, but upon further reading and reflection I began to realize, that in many ways  life in a  monastary can simply be a microcosm of living in the larger world. Obviously the same problems and temptations arise there as elsewhere.

Book One was around forty-five pages of writing separated into twenty-five subsections containing, well, as the title puts it “practical advice on living a spiritual life.”

Throughout this first book, over and again was humility and self-denial emphasized. A number of times Kempis writes about how easy those living in the monastery have it as compared to the Saints and the Desert Fathers (those ascetics who chose lives of complete denial a few hundred years before Kempis’ time).

He spends time dealing with temptations, gossip, pride, laziness and judgementalism; things that all of us in the contemporary world still have to fight day after day. The “practical advice” that he gives is timeless and obviously can apply to a fifteenth century monk as equally as a twenty-first century modern Christian. Over and again, I found myself in the pages and over and again I found priceless nuggets of wisdom that I can apply to my own imitation of Christ.

I plan to start on Book Two: “Considerations Inviting Us to Live an Interior Life” tonight. It appears to be a bit smaller of a Book than Book One, but I will try and post at least one or two posts as I read through it.

Great book so far, I’m glad that that Craig Adams mentioned it.

Filed Under: blogging, Book Review, Thomas à Kempis

“Imitation of Christ” on Thorns in the Side

July 26, 2010 By Randy Olds Leave a Comment
Note: part 3 of a series as I live-blog my reading of “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas a Kempis

“Watch your own step; be slow to criticize the doings of other people. When we criticize others, we get nothing for our pains; how often we make mistakes! How carelessly it can lead us into sin! Be your own critic; pull yourself to pieces; then you will have something to shew for your trouble” Book One; 14.1

“There will always be faults in ourselves, faults in others, which defy correction; there is nothing for it but to put up with them, till God arranges things differently. After all, it may be the best possible way of testing your patience; and without patience a man’s good qualities go for very little. At the same time, you do well to pray about such inconveniences; ask God in His mercy to help you bear them calmly” Book One; 16.1

“…Yes, you will do well to cultivate patience in putting up with the shortcomings, the various disabilities of other people; only think how much they have to put up with in you! When you make such a failure of organizing you own life, how can you expect everybody else to come up to your own standards?” Book One; 16.2

“If we were all perfect, we should give one another no crosses to bear, and that is not what God wants.” Book One; 16.3

I was recently asking a spiritual adviser of mine why it is that some of my faults were so easy to overcome, and why others seem to be such a constant struggle. His answer was “so that I can learn humility.”

Perhaps patience as well.

Maybe a bit of the mote in one’s eye verses the beam in my own as well.

I had meant to blog more this weekend on my reading but didn’t have the time. I’ve been pretty busy with work and getting things ready for my wife’s surgery in a couple of weeks. I will try and get a few posts in this week.

Filed Under: blogging, Thomas à Kempis

“The Imitation of Christ” on Humility and Knowledge

July 24, 2010 By Randy Olds Leave a Comment
Note: part 2 of a series as I live-blog my reading of “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas a Kempis

“Talk as learnedly as you will about the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, it will get you no thanks from the Holy Trinity if you aren’t humble about it. After all, it isn’t learned talk that saves a man or makes a Saint out of him; only a life well lived can claim God’s friendship” Book One; 1.3

“If my knowledge embraced the whole of creation, what good would it do me in God’s sight? It is by my actions that He will judge me” Book One; 2.1

“The wider, the more exact your learning, the more severe will be your judgment, if it has not taught you to live holily…Let us have no airs of learning; own up to your ignorance; what is the use of crowing over some rival, when you can point to any number of Doctors and Masters who can beat you at your own game. If you want to learn an art worth knowing, you must set out to be an unknown, and to count for nothing” Book One; 2.3

Well, I’m only a few pages into the book so far, and am already feeling convicted. Humility is not my long suit, and is something that I am continually striving for. Kempis has already put me in my rightful place here. Although knowledge in itself is not a bad thing (although some might take 1 Corinthians 8:1 out of context and say otherwise), if it is not tempered with love and humility then it is not worth much.

I have seen in myself and in others that obnoxious tendency to somehow or another to equate Biblical or theological head-knowledge with holiness. As Kempis points out here in such eloquent fashion, that simply is not the case. Although God does want for us to seek to know and understand Him ( 2 Corinthians 10:17), this knowledge amounts to nothing if not put into use to live a holy life, something that I constantly seek to remind myself. And James 3:1 seems to back up Kempis’ warning that knowledge without holy living may indeed result in a more severe judgment.

I’ve actually read much farther in the book than I intended before taking notes. I got carried away and read through the first thirty or so pages and had to back up to the beginning. I am beginning to understand why this little book has meant so much to so many Christians over the centuries. It will be a real challenge to slow down and pace myself for the three or four weeks that I want to take to read it in.

More tomorrow.

Filed Under: blogging, Book Review, Thomas à Kempis
« Older Posts