Dying So We Can Live

Spirituality Column #129
April 28, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Dying So We Can Live
By Bob Walters

Living fabulously takes a ton of pride and discipline and luck, if we are talking about the world’s standards.

God’s standards, on the other hand, must be beyond anything we can imagine.

Fabulous, I’m pretty sure, doesn’t begin to describe heaven, divine forgiveness, or eternity in a loving relationship with the Creator of the Universe.

Pride and discipline and luck won’t get you to heaven. Many would agree with “pride and luck” being worldly, but think “discipline” is a ticket to heaven. Discipline is important, but only if it is discipline of faith.

Having discipline to work hard, even for the Lord, is still just discipline, and still just work.

Faith, forgiveness, humility, grace, mercy … this is the face of the Christian walk. Yet aren’t we often stuck on fabulous? I know I am.

These things are swirling around in my head because I just finished reading the mystical, spiritual Christian classic, “The Imitation of Christ.” Hailed as the “second most published book in history” next to the Bible, it dates to 1418 and is credited to Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) near Cologne, Germany.

This isn’t a book to read before gaining personal familiarity and affinity for the Bible. I believe the Bible is entirely true, but it’s a tough read. Especially the parts that tell us to deny self, die to self, humble ourselves, and hate the world in order to serve God. “Dying to self” is not something I do easily.

“Imitation” is a thoughtful reflection on all these things, and includes a conversation in the voices of both a Disciple and Christ. Given the dust-up in 2008 over the breezy treatment of the Trinity in “The Shack,” I asked friend, mentor, Bible scholar, church history expert and local neighbor Dr. George Bebawi why “Imitation” does not scandalize the “voice of Christ.”

“The mystics of the Middle Ages are the undisputed treasure of Christianity,” George offered. “They speak to love, forgiveness, humility – topics people don’t debate – rather than to major or minor doctrines which divide us. Our union with and light in Christ is not a disputed doctrine.”

As to “the voice of Christ,” Bebawi reminds, “Christ did not go into a retreat of silence after the New Testament. He speaks to every believer’s heart. The voice of Christ in the inner life is an accepted fact.”

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) suggests keeping a highlighter handy while reading “The Imitation of Christ.”