Will I Will God's Will Willingly?

Will I Will God's Will Willingly?

The end of chapter 3,

Book 1, The Doctrine of Truth

Recall from last week, when we had good Thomas take to task those who seek out learning and schooling for the sake of learning and being honored for their "smarts."

Thomas continues the thread after just announcing that these people are quickly forgotten because their learning and pursuit of truth has been self-centered...not "other centered" or God-centered.  Having missed the opportunity to serve others with their deeds and intelligence, Thomas moves on to tell us:

6. Oh, how quickly does the glory of the world pass away (1 Jn 2:17). 

On the theme above, Thomas is saying - "OK, you're smart, we get it, but you haven't built a legacy of love...at all.  You've built your life on knowledge, but it's knowledge of falsehoods and selfishness, not of truth or goodness or kindness."   It is important to hone in on what is good for our body and our mind and our souls.  Seek out the goodness- the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22)

Would that their lives had been answerable to their learning; then would they have studied and read well.

How many perish in the world through vain learning, who little care for the service of God!

And because they chose rather to be great rather than to be humble, therefore they are lost in their own imaginations.

These three statements are mortal strikes at the lack of accountability rolled into this ego-centric gnosticism.  In his mind, he is a legend, a "rock star" of learning.  Look at last week's post on rock-heads.This reminds me of the person who says "Yes, I've read the Bible, and blah, blah, blah...." He wants the accolades for having done the reading and knowing the text, but is not accountable to it.   It's the difference between the Ten Commandments and the Ten Suggestions.

  
He is truly great who is great in charity (love).

This line is straight out of 1 Cor 13:3, and is a summary restatement of the whole chapter 13 of that epistle.  So, right now think of the great people in your life and how they shared their love with you and with others. Thomas sets up this litany of
"He is truly great who...."

He is truly great who is little in his own eyes and holds as nothing the pinnacle of honor.

He is truly prudent who looks upon all earthly things as nothing that he may gain Christ (Phil 3:8).

How can we take ourselves seriously when we compare our daily "to do" list and achievement of quotas, with establishing a legacy of love and helping others. Learn to hold on loosely, or you will crush what you have captured! What we want finds us when we match our will with God's Will.  God smiles at that moment, and we find ourselves at peace.

And he is very learned indeed who does the will of God and renounces his own will.

And this ends our lengthy reflection on Chapter 3.  Doing God's Will and not our own will leads us to the truth.
 

Thank you for reading and praying along with me. 'Til next time, be Imitators of Christ!

tim

The Doctrine of Truth: Rockheads and Axes

From Bk 1, Ch 3 (The Doctrine of Truth) continued, at paragraph 5.

First, I am having to use an electronic version of The Imitation of Christ from Project Gutenberg, as I’m on the road and left my copy at home. Thanks, Project Gutenberg! Once I get home I’ll edit for clarity as the version I use makes the paragraph below a bit easier to understand. Good Thomas starts off with:

5. O if they would give the same diligence to the rooting out of vices and the planting of virtues to which they give unto vain questionings: there would not been so many evil

doings and stumbling-blocks among the laity, nor such ill living among houses of religion.

Thomas gets to the point in paragraph 5 right away with a plea to quit messing around.  We easily become lax in our daily lives.  We prefer to read about helping others rather than actually doing it, but then, to make matters worse, we then brag of our knowledge of all those suffering people (for example). Playing off of paragraph 4 (see last week’s post), we can see a connection between our thoughts and actions, between our words and our deeds. In Matthew, 3:8-10, St. John the Baptist tells the Pharisees that they can’t call themselves Children of Abraham without some evidence of repentance tied up in real efforts, not just scholarly knowledge of the law:

“Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.

And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. “

Bottom line, according to St. John The Baptist: rocks are more deserving of grace than knowledgeable people. At least a rock has a purpose to it and is useful. Rocks aren’t into vain questioning…questioning that shows just how smart we are to the person of whom we are asking the question. Waiting for that praise of “Oh, how insightful!” Maybe we are all rock-heads. Here’s what Thomas is getting at:

Of a surety, at the Day of Judgment it will be demanded of us, not what we have read, but what we have done; not how well we have spoken, but how holily we have lived.

Tell me, where now are all those masters and teachers, whom thou knew well, while they were yet with you, and flourished in learning? Their stalls are now filled by others, who perhaps never have one thought concerning them. Whilst they lived they seemed to be somewhat important, but now no one speaks of them.

This last line reminds me of a song from the 70's by Kansas, called Dust in the Wind. It’s simply presumptuous arrogance to think that what we do day-to-day in our efforts to look important really matter in the scheme of things. Instead of blowing a lot of hot gas, we need to build into people and holy living, says Thomas. I was just trying to recall a single lecture from college. Not to insult my professors, mind you, who I did like and respect, but rather to compare the significance of their words these many years later.

My poor kids will likely not recall any of my many, wisdom filled lectures on a variety of topics. Too bad for them! However, they do recall that I came to their game, coached their soccer, sparred with them at Karate, drew pictures, made clay figures, built chicken coops and so on. Many of these activities are prayerful moments, which is part of what Thomas is getting at here. Not every moment has to be holy-rolling, but planting virtue. We can all do these virtuous things, can’t we? I mean, even if we can’t read or write, we can still build into our kids’ lives or into the lives of our fellow men and women.

Thank you for reading and praying along with me. 'Til next time, be Imitators of Christ!


tim

"This, I Believe"

This post has nothing to do with Thomas a'Kempis, but is just a proud papa moment.

Our daughter Virginia was chosen to proclaim her “This I Believe” essay on WUIS public radio.

Of course we are bragging and think Virginia's is the best, but enjoy the humor and sincerity of Virginia's essay.

http://www.wuis.org/thisibelieve/ Virginia's is about 3/4 the way down the list.
 
Hope you enjoy this and the other talented, thoughtful youths who worked very hard to get their essays together and selected.
 
There's a lot of Christ Imitating going on in some of these essays.  And I know, for sure, in Virginia's. 
 
Until next time, thanks for praying with me.

Predicting the Weather is Easy if You Want to be Wrong Most of the Time

From Bk 1, Ch 3 (The Doctrine of Truth) continued, at paragraph 4.

This week we look at paragraph 4 of Chapter 3 on the Doctrine of Truth.  Thomas starts out with a new proposition, having conclude the previous paragraph with the notion that overcoming our self is the path to Truth in Christ.  He then says that, while he loves learning and knowledge and accuracy, these are innately flawed because these run through the human filter.  It's kind of like predicting the weather:

All perfections in this life are attended with some imperfections; and all our speculations with a certain obscurity.

My friend Rich was an expert at everything handed to him, especially board games and parlor games:  He could  shoot a game of pool such that I never knew him to lose, unless I was on his team.  He always hit the bulls eye in darts.  But no matter how hard he tried, he never could hit the exact middle, even if he was successful in launching all darts at the bulls eye. So Thomas makes the point that even our good, informed estimates are still a bit dimmed by our own imperfections.  See also 1Corinthians 13:12. where St. Paul talks about seeing ourselves through a glass, darkly, or through a mirror, until we become perfected by love and truth.

Good Thomas then goes on to give an interesting comparison.... 

The humble knowledge of thyself is a surer way to God than the deepest search after science.

Learning is not to be blamed, nor the mere  knowledge of anything which is good in itself and ordained by God; but a good conscience and a virtuous life are always to be preferred before it.

Of course, we can see God in all the wonders of creation.  Psalm 98 even says that the rivers clap and the mountains shout for joy over the deeds of the Lord. But Thomas says that the more clear our conscience, the more we will see the Lord in all we do.  Jesus tells us that the kingdom of God is within us.  And that is part of Thomas' point here.  Why look elsewhere when we can find the Living God through searching our hearts.

Finally, Thomas launches another heat rocket at us:

But because many make it more their study to know than to live well, therefore are they often deceived, and bring forth none, or very little fruit.

Living well in God's Divine Truth should be our objective, rather than trying to know all the answers.
Our biblical icons here are Joshua and Caleb, who went into the Promised Land in order to follow what God told them to do.  The Lord rewarded Caleb's loyalty with a special gift of land through Joshua. See Joshua, Ch 14.

I picked these two images they represent the difference in abundance as presented from God's view, and the meagerness of pursuing our own truth and our own agenda.  Indeed, if you look at Numbers 13 & 14:30, you will see that all the Israelites BUT Caleb and Joshua were the only two from the whole group allowed to see the Promised Land.  The others were the whiners who wanted to go back to Egypt....they did not get to go back to Egypt nor into the Promised Land. What they had, whithered away into dust.  Joshua and Caleb went into the land flowing with Milk and Honey, all because they followed the Truth.

Thank you for reading and praying along with me. 'Til next time, be Imitators of Christ!

tim

Update: Now at http://thomasakempis.blogspot.com/

I decided to change the web address to the blog to:
http://thomasakempis.blogspot.com/

More to follow later this week.
tim

Minding your own business: overcoming the chief obstacle - our own self

From Bk 1, Ch 3 again.,


Thomas concludes this section of Chapter 3 by telling us that we need to have our honey-do list out and to get crackin' on some of those favorite distractions.  That's what an "unmortified affection of the heart" is...usually our favorite sin that we are neither embarrassed about, or too arrogant or stupid to realize that we should be embarrassed by this activity...even in our thought life: the life of the heart and mind.

What is a greater hindrance and to thee than thine own unmortified affection of the heart?

Second, Thomas tells us that in order move toward a better version of ourself, one has to think through the consequence of the activity.  That helps us avoid the silliness, or, the same activity played out and rehearsed in our mind helps us to complete the task more successfully than just doing it. It is so easy to follow our "bent".  Just like a tree will bend toward water even at the risk of leaving the sunlight, we will go toward our tendencies easily.  The tree soon leans so far away from the light that it cannot straighten up without pruning.  The tree is still alive, of course, but an impactful storm could easily break it at the weak points.  

A good and devout man first disposes his works inwardly which he is to do outwardly.

In my inner thought life, when I struggle with a distraction, I often imagine striking through the mental image with a black marker, or sometimes I start saying the St Michael's prayer. These two things usually dispose of the distraction. Try it. Let me know if this works for you as well.  This is what Thomas is getting at here in the next quote.  Taking control of the weeds of thought that drive us to sin and our propensity toward our favorite vices, especially in our thought life:

Neither do they draw him to the desires of an inordinate inclination, but he bends them to the rule of right reason. Who has a stronger conflict than he who strives to overcome himself?

Lastly, the more we exercise this mental process, the stronger we become. In our Curves business, my lovely wife Donna encourages club members to work out three times a week.  This gets them into a habit that shows progress faster.  The more they work out, the stronger and the less flabbly they become. This gives them confidence since they are now a better version of themselves.

And this must be our business, to strive to overcome ourselves, and daily to gain strength over ourselves, and to grow better and better."

I'll try to finish this excellent chapter next week.  There's so much here, it's worth the effort, don't you think?

Thank you for reading and praying along with me. 'Til next time, be Imitators of Christ!


tim

Multi-Tasking Works: No Ordinary Moments

 From Bk 1, Ch 3 at paragraph 3, Good Thomas tells us:

A pure, simple and steady spirit is not dissipated by a multitude of affairs, because he performs them all to the honor of God, and endeavors to be at rest within himself and free from all self-seeking.

Looking at the daily tasks we all face in the modern world, it is comforting to know that in the 15th Century, our friends in the local monastery also faced this problem.  Think of trying to grow your own food, heat yourself, get water from somewhere, keep up with personal hygiene. Oh yeah, and this view takes changing a diaper to a whole 'nother level.

The key here is to perform all to the glory of God.

Whether we are sowing or planting or reaping or cooking the wheat, each event is an opportunity to give thanks and praise to Almighty God.  In this the ordinary drudgery of a task or tasks becomes extraordinary.

Accept for the moment that IN LIFE, THERE ARE NO ORDINARY MOMENTS.  No moment is ordinary if you are "offering it up" for God's Glory.  In return, He will show you the extraordinary aspects of the ordinary world we live in. 

Consider the the EXTRAORDINARY MOMENT OF PICKING UP AN EGG TO USE IN COOKING.  The egg is made of a porous shell, with a membrane, with a food supply for the embryo (yolk).  The porous aspect of the shell allows the chick to breathe as it grows.  Eggs don't need refrigeration, except after we wash or handle the eggs.  An incredible source of protein, the egg is almost a perfect food as it exits the chicken.  Or, if fertilized, you can wait 21 days for the chick to hatch, then feed the critter for a few months, and then start the process all over or start the barbecue! Thank you, Lord, for the beauty and simplicity of the incredible egg!

If you ask God, he will show you these extraordinary views of the "ordinary" items in daily life.  Don't overlook these unless you want to be bored out of your mind (and soul). Sometimes, when you pray for this capability, you will see things you've never seen before....as if you've been wearing sunglasses or, like St. Paul, scales will fall from your eyes. Acts 9:18

 

We plow through our hurried day with multiple tasks and chores on our mind and heart and in our hands.  We become human-doings instead of human-beings. The stress can be good stress if you are offering it up in prayer and thanksgiving; e.g. "Thank you, Jesus, for the over-stuffed comfy chair, so I can get my work done while taking care of the baby." 

 

God will reward you first, by helping you to acknowledge that there are No Ordinary Moments. Stopping to praise Him in your stress, He will give you consolation and the power to get through the trial(s) of the moment.  Second, when offering this multitude of tasks to His Honor, you will quickly  gain some perspective, such as being able to work from home or grabbing a nap with the baby.  Such perspective helps you balance the messes and tasks and prioritize and somehow get it all done. You get the energy to carry through to completion.

 

Two quick caveats here, lest I sound like "say the magic words, and God will make it all nice."  Notice the first few words of this paragraph:

"A pure, simple and steady spirit...."

and the phrase at the end:

free from all self-seeking.

Which is not to say that we we need to be selfless here:  Asking for help from The Lord is always selfish at some level.....but it's the good kind of humble selfishness. He asks us to reach out to Him and rely on Him.  So ask away!   It's His command!
"And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you...."Lk 11:9


Thank you for reading and praying along with me. 'Til next time, be Imitators of Christ!


tim