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.
Conversations Along The Road