Insights from Thomas a Kempis

Do you know much about monasticism? Monks have been around for a long time. Thomas a Kempis was one. He wrote The Imitation of Christ in the 1420's. I've mentioned before that his writings are hit and miss for me. Sometimes his insights are quite profound. Other times I find myself sharply disagreeing with him. Most of these disagreements deal with the monastic idea of separation.

Monks didn't really start out that way. The early church experienced a lot of persecution. Early believers gave great respect to those that were martyred. Many dreamed of the chance to be killed for their faith. It was a sure fire way of proving to be a very religious person. As persecution faded into history, fewer and fewer martyrs were created. The religious elite had to come from some other source. At one point, the people who were considered the most religious were those who were tortured for their faith. They were called the "confessors." They were the new martyrs. As time continued to progress, Christianity was thoroughly excepted throughout the Empire. They weren't being killed (no martyrs). They weren't being tortured (no confessors). What would the religious elite do to prove themselves religious?

Many began to go and live in the old pagan temples that once flourished in the Roman Empire. They believed that the demons of the pagans stilled lived in these dark places. So, these monks would seclude themselves in these dark places to take on the demons through prayer. To make a long story short. This eventually turned in to monasticism. Religious people separated from the culture to focus entirely on their own spiritual welfare, neglecting the call of the Gospel to share Christ with the world. Granted, I may be over simplifying what happened, but this excerpt from Thomas will prove interesting.

If your concern is God and your own spiritual welfare you will little note what happens outside you. When you are not attending to yourself what are you doing?... If you wish to enjoy true peace and perfect union with God you must set all things aside and keep your eyes only upon yourself.

Who is the center of attention? This does not glorify God. Gad calls us to focus on Him, to the exclusion of our selves (Mark8:34). He calls us to bear the burdens of others (Gal. 6:2). Biblical Christianity is not a religion for hermits. If you only want to be by yourself, you will not like being saved. I think the two greatest commandments are direct rebuttals of Thomas' belief about focusing on self. Love God (focus on God). Love people (Focus people on God). Self doesn't even come up. A truly righteous and humble person does not think about himself. He does not think lowly of himself. He is to busy thinking about God and sharing Him with others that he forgets to think about himself at all.