At the beginning of Thomas á Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ he speaks of the most important thing a Christian can do in their life time is to study Christ. Yet it is not enough to merely study him but to imitate him in our everyday lives. The very practice of doing or saying what Jesus said or did is to experience a bit of life through the mind of Jesus Christ. Think about it, when Jesus didn’t ignore those who were often invisible in his culture (like children) but embraced them. Such an act changes a person from the inside out. One learns to see the disenfranchised with compassion and love. Or when Jesus said to turn the other cheek or walk the extra mile for an enemy. This sort of sacrificial living teaches that life is not all about us and that even the hearts of our enemies can be softened.
We can also examine the lifestyle of Christ, how he spent significant amount of time away in prayer. We all need this time of prayer and fellowship with God. We can often fall into the trap of feeding our rational/intellectual side of being human and neglect the other basic need of being a social being as well. We need that time to simply have relationship with God. This is vital for becoming like Christ. Paul encourages us in Romans to have the mind of Christ, to renew our minds. A very big element of this is spending time, getting to know Jesus. What does this do? It helps us to truly think, act, and speak like Jesus. I believe that this is the reason for so much nonsense in the world and even among so-called Christians who appeal to a gospel, that Paul says in Galatians 1, REALLY ISN”T A GOSPEL AT ALL. Why? Because they have perverted the faith of Christ, the apostles, the early Church fathers and mothers, and great men and women of God down through the ages for a lie. How? Because they do not truly know Christ or have not spent significant time in his presence getting to know him. Instead they follow their passions, imaginations, feelings, emotions, lusts…to create something that though it sounds biblical because they use scripture, it is not biblical at all because they twist scripture.
In Jeremiah God speaks of false prophets crying out, “Peace, Peace” but the message and warning from God was that “there is no peace” but judgment. Why is this important to recall? Because we need to be in tune with God the Father and be aware of what is coming down the pike. We need to be able to heed his warnings. We need to be able to know the truth when we hear it and know what is false. There is a lot of false teaching out there as we speak. We live in a very pluralistic society where people are making up beliefs as they go along. While studying philosophy in my undergrad, one thing that drove me nuts was that there was a philosopher for every crazy belief you could think of. One day my professor said, “Philosophy is a dangerous thing, with the right charisma and eloquent rhetoric, a philosopher or orator could prove that a toothpick is God.” Sounds ridiculous huh? Well there are people that teach that god is in everything, in all matter and that that matter possesses the essence of God. Therefore if God is in a tree and that toothpick came from the tree that housed God…the toothpick is God too.
So what is the safeguard to all of this. Praying, and sticking to the faith you have received. Pay attention to that check in your spirit that says, “You know…that sounds all nice and stuff but something isn’t right here, something is off.” St. Irenaeus was a bishop in the ancient Roman province of Gaul in the second century AD. He was very close to the time of the apostles and had received the faith that had been handed down to him by very trusted and faithful men. In turn he taught the “barbarians” in Gaul, the simple folks who could not read or write. Yet he says in Against Heresies if someone came and began to teach them a different Gospel than what the apostles had handed down to them they would recognize it immediately as a lie and would turn and run the other way. It is a faith that many have suffered for, died for, and guarded, not only with their words but with their hearts, minds and lives. We need to honor them by taking our faith as seriously as they did.
The moral of that story is that it is better for most Christians to not even listen to deception and to flee from it instead. Now God has called many throughout the Church ages to practice what is known as “apologetics” or the defense of the faith. Yet these individuals are usually deeply grounded in the teachings of Christianity and are very familiar with why we believe what we believe and most of the details behind our faith. But the truth of the matter is that most Christians do not have the time, the resources, the interest or the calling to engage in this. We are all part of the same body with different gifts, passions, and callings that are equally as vital and useful to our community as the next. I have no ability in leading worship because I sing like a sick duck. Yet I am thankful for those who are called into this ministry who can lead us into the presence of God through worship.
I say all this because it is necessary in our day to stay anchored in the faith and know what that faith is. There are a lot of false gospels as Paul says in Galatians, but they are no gospels at all. In fact, he says “If anyone teaches you another gospel than the one we have given, even if I or angels come doing so, let him be cursed.” Pretty strong language that wouldn’t go over big in our day. But his language emphasizes the urgency of his warning. This is why Jesus was so sturn with those who departed from the true faith, same as the apostles, same as the early Church fathers and mothers. Thomas Oden says in his three volume work Systematic Theology that “the vital question for Christians is not rather it is palatable but rather it is true.” We are not interested in only the things we like about scripture but what is true…what is scripture and the teachings of Jesus and the apostles claiming is true. That’s what we want to know. That’s what we need. That’s what God expects of us.
November 30, 2011 at 4:35 pm
I just finished reading “The Imitation of Christ”…an oldie but goodie! What I am sure that people are missing here is that Jesus and His message of an arriving “kingdom” are misunderstood. We imitate Christ by understanding of what or which “kingdom” He is pointing to…the law of love and of service and of true faith revolves around a very specific “new worldview”, a different lens if you will. Trying to understand Christ or imitate Christ is impossible until we grasp the “kingdom of God” and it’s language. Notice the language is an infinite type that invites and is not definitive: for example, the kIngdom of God is like ________(fill in the blank). He never tells us what it is! It is to be discovered by each person and will prove to be impossible to confine in words…that is why He didn’t attempt to confine it to words but rather used parables. We must enter deep into grace and humility to ask with all our heart to show each of us what this kingdom really is…He is a rewarder of them that seek! I know one thing for sure: the kingdom of God is understood through prayer and meditation in the power of the Holy Spirit, the language of the kingdom of God is love, and the result of the kingdom of God is loving service to our fellow man…just like Jesus.
Thanks for a top-notch, well written post. Keep up the good work and may the Lord continue to bless your ministry!
November 30, 2011 at 7:51 pm
Great to hear from you again Disciple!
It is so good to hear that others are still reading The Imitation of Christ. I have learned to use it as a sort of devotional because each chapter or small section is so pregnant with deep words to reflect upon. I heard a student once say to a professor, “I have alreadyread the Bible.” The professor replied, “No one has read the Bible.” In the sense that just because you have read it through once doesn’t mean you are done with it or more importantly it is not done with you/us. That is how I feel as well with Kempis and some others.
I totally agree with you about the kingdom of God. You describe it verywell and beautifully actually so thank you. “Fill in the blank” is exactly the best way to describe the kingdom because it depends on how we live life from day to day, and how we go about filling it that blank that determines the presence of the kingdom of God upon the earth. We are manifestations of that kingdom in the world.
Thank you for your kind words and God Bless you!