Imitation of Christ - Chapter 1

"I would rather feel contrition than know how to define it."

The first chapter strikes me in a few different ways. First, is the emphasis on studying Jesus’ life so that one may live their life with the same habits as Jesus. Almost like how all those productivity channels on YouTube are so popular because they share effective habits. But instead of copying a productivity guru, we imitate Jesus Christ.

Another aspect is how Thomas explains many hear the Gospel but do not care much since they don’t have the spirit of Christ. Now, I am not entirely sure how to understand it, but my first thought is to think of how we need the Holy Spirit to understand the Gospel. We need the Holy Spirit to guide us and to lead us.

The next section of this chapter hit me the hardest. I study theology. I have a bachelor’s degree in it and I almost have my Master’s completed. And yet here is something I have always wrestled with. Thomas explains,

“For what would it profit us to know the whole Bible by heart and the principles of all the philosophers if we live without grace and the love of God?”

Obviously, I know there are some circles who look down upon studying the Bible in detail, so this quote is not for you. But it is for those of us who have made knowing the Bible a mark of a mature Christian. Can they speak accurately about all the current topics or issues? They must be a mature Christian then, we would think. But no. Without the grace and love of God all our knowledge is just puffs of air dissipating as quickly as the sound of the words die down. Knowledge is important, as 1 Peter makes clear. He emphasizes knowing Christ. But knowing Christ as in knowing Him in relationship, not simply knowing about him. If I say I know my wife, I mean a lot more than just knowing what her favourite colour is.

The last big idea of this chapter is to seek God’s kingdom through contempt of the world. And it is not simply to hate everything in the world. Thomas means pursuing anything in this world to bring fulfillment to your life is an empty pursuit. The world will quickly leave you tired, exhausted, and drained, while promising you everything if you just pushed harder or did more. You want happiness? Well, you don’t have it since you aren’t rich enough yet. You want contentment? Well, you don’t have it since you haven’t binged enough Netflix lately. You want fame? Well, you don’t have it since not every single person approves of you. The world will always promise that if you do one more thing, then everything else will fall into place. When we seek God first above all else the strangest thing happens. Since His love and compassion is so great, He actually meets you where you are. God gives you all of Himself and promises to walk with you through not only your most joyous moments, but also your darkest. The world will only say you haven’t done enough.

I am left with some questions I need to reflect on after I have read this chapter. Is my dedication to follow Christ based on gaining knowledge about God and about the Bible without actually following through on the call to love God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love my neighbour as myself? Have I taken the world’s promise of having to do one more thing to be accepted, and morphed it into my Christian faith where I always think I have to do one more thing to get God to love me or owe me in some way? Because if I have done that, I have completely missed the Gospel. A final question I need to ask myself, is where do I love the things in this world more than I love God? And I think that is a question I will have to ask myself everyday for the rest of my life.

P.S. – None of the above means we must hate every single thing in the world, it just means we need to realize as Paul says, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Philippians 3:8). Now that challenges me.

P.S.S (is that even the right of writing another P.S.?) – Many old books are available completely free from Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org), including Imitation of Christ.

P.S.S.S (this is just getting ridiculous) - I also have a podcast, which I will be uploading readings of the Imitation of Christ onto. Check it out anywhere you get podcasts, ByCandelight Podcast.

Last thing - The Photo in the Title is by Daniel Bernard on Unsplash