Thomas à Kempis: Humility and Patience vs. Listless and Neglect

Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. Matthew 6:1

“It is better and safer for you to conceal the grace of devotion, not to be elated by it, not to speak or think much of it, and instead to humble yourself and fear lest it is being given to one unworthy of it. Do not cling too closely to this affection, for it may quickly be changed to its opposite. When you are in grace, think how miserable and needy you are without it. Your progress in spiritual life does not consist in having the grace of consolation, but in enduring its withdrawal with humility, resignation, and patience, so that you neither become listless in prayer nor neglect your other duties in the least; but on the contrary do what you can do as well as you know how, and do not neglect yourself completely because of your dryness or anxiety of mind.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ (Grand Rapids, CCEL), p. 72.

Jesus wants us to practice righteousness, which includes generous living, but He wants us to do it in such a way that we “conceal the grace of devotion.”

He loves it when we serve in the shadows. That’s my experience right now. I am in Pakistan, staying in the home of humble servants, whose service to me ranks at the top, worldwide.

They gave me some of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received. Moments like these will surely carry me through the hard days.

Jesus also wants us to hang in there when we await consolation. It means we exhibit humility and patience in times when it seems God has forgotten about us.

If our lives were easy all the time, we would get listless in prayer and neglect faithful activities. But if we get this right, our witness will draw people to Jesus.

God, we need your help to conceal the grace of devotion and await the grace of consolation with humility and patience. In your mercy, hear our prayer to help us by your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Thanks to God’s faithfulness, I am now safely in Jhelum, Pakistan, for Kairos University meetings at the room in restaurant in the photo above. Thanks for your prayers.

This trip will bring context based theological education to people who never thought it possible to pursue such studies. It’s happening.

And He gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6

“For this, indeed, great grace is needed, grace that will raise the soul and lift it up above itself. Unless a man be elevated in spirit, free from all creatures, and completely united to God, all his knowledge and possessions are of little moment. He who considers anything great except the one, immense, eternal good will long be little and lie groveling on the earth. Whatever is not God is nothing and must be accounted as nothing.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ (Grand Rapids, CCEL), p. 107.

As I continue to explore what is ‘needful’ in the mindset of Thomas à Kempis in his classic book to gain insight for living, giving, serving and loving generously, I discover afresh that “great grace” is needed.

We tend to live life focused on ourselves, on our agendas, and what we think is needful. When we do that, we do nothing but grovel on the earth. People who do not follow Jesus do not know any better than to grovel.

We need great grace. We need God to elevate our spirit while we make Him our top priority. When we do that, everything else falls into place. When we don’t, well, instead of exhibiting generosity, we grovel on earth.

God give us great grace to focus on you and follow you instead of groveling. We trust that as we do, you will sort out the rest of the details of life for us better than we could do for ourselves. Amen.

Pray for our team as we have transitioned from

Then Jesus said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. Luke 9:23-26

“There is scarcely anything in which you so need to die to self as in seeing and suffering things that are against your will, especially when things that are commanded seem inconvenient or useless. Then, because you are under authority, and dare not resist the higher power, it seems hard to submit to the will of another and give up your own opinion entirely.

But consider, my child, the fruit of these labors, how soon they will end and how greatly they will be rewarded, and you will not be saddened by them, but your patience will receive the strongest consolation. For instead of the little will that you now readily give up, you shall always have your will in heaven. There, indeed, you shall find all that you could desire. There you shall have possession of every good without fear of losing it. There shall your will be forever one with Mine.

It shall desire nothing outside of Me and nothing for itself. There no one shall oppose you, no one shall complain of you, no one hinder you, and nothing stand in your way. All that you desire will be present there, replenishing your affection and satisfying it to the full. There I shall render you glory for the reproach you have suffered here; for your sorrow I shall give you a garment of praise, and for the lowest place a seat of power forever.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ (Grand Rapids, CCEL), p. 132.

Today the generosity that comes into view links to our need to die to self and entrust ourselves to the One who can offer the strongest consolation.

This takes courage, but the gain is unfathomable. Here, Thomas reminds us of the promise of eternal reward. And we will have everything we have ever needed there in Christ.

Today’s Scripture features the needful posture we must take to exhibit this generosity. It’s a posture of surrender to God in order to position ourselves for the strongest consolation.

When we deny ourselves, follow Jesus, forfeiting everything else, we experience God’s generosity, that is, everything good, and best of all, by aligning with Jesus, He will not be ashamed of us in the last day.

This seems fitting as I endure occasional uncomfortable moments in my service in places like Pakistan. Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything.

May Jesus also care for you as you surrender yourself to Him and His care and suffer things against your will.

And rejoice with me that while doing some video production for releasing a new Generosity Monk website in June 2026 working in collaboration with Mizraab and Suniel Khawar, Suniel’s professor and mentor, Haroon Habib (born Muslim) has assisted us and listened to me from behind the camera. After the third day, he declared (no kidding, praise God!) that his highlight was listening and learning he announced that he wants to follow Jesus with us. And we read this Scripture today, on our last day together.

This the greatest reward for a trip that’s only half over. When we live generously, show the world what a surrendered life looks like, and talk about it means to follow Christ… people taste, see, and want to follow with us.

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. Psalm 56:3

“What, Lord, is the trust which I have in this life, or what is my greatest comfort among all the things that appear under heaven? Is it not You, O Lord, my God, Whose mercies are without number? Where have I ever fared well but for You? Or how could things go badly when You were present? I had rather be poor for Your sake than rich without You. I prefer rather to wander on the earth with You than to possess heaven without You. Where You are there is heaven, and where You are not are death and hell. You are my desire and therefore I must cry after You and sigh and pray. In none can I fully trust to help me in my necessities, but in You alone, my God. You are my hope. You are my confidence. You are my consoler, most faithful in every need.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ (Grand Rapids, CCEL), p. 150.

I hope you like the new header photo I shot from the retreat location in Nathiagali. The mountains of Northern Pakistan remind me of the mountains near my home in Colorado.

This mountainous Abbottabad area has quite a history. U.S. troops got Osama bin Laden near here in 2011.

The scenery makes me think of this text. I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2

Have you ever felt like there was no one you could count on? It’s a hard place to be.

But the truth of the matter is that we can we still focus on what is needful. Why? Because our Lord and good Consoler is most faithful in every need.

So we can give ourselves to the needful things around us because He gives Himself to us. Ponder this.

And hear that God provided again for our team in Pakistan. The country is experiencing lots of extended blackouts with no power. It’s as if God was at the switch.

When we needed power, we had it. And much of the times it went out. We praise Him for this provision.

What about your situation? Unless you risk everything, you gain nothing in the kingdom. Are you demonstrating a posture of surrender and dependence on God?

God will help in your necessities, but you have to put yourself in a place to need His help.

Pray with me that all who hear this challenge to trust God will experience divine help, provision, blessing, peace, and protection for their service and sacrifice.

Make it so by your grace and mercy because of your great love we ask, Father, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Give us today our daily bread. Matthew 6:11

“I feel there are especially necessary for me in this life two things without which its miseries would be unbearable. Confined here in this prison of the body I confess I need these two, food and light. Therefore, You have given me in my weakness Your sacred flesh to refresh my soul and body, and You have set Your word as the guiding light for my feet. Without them I could not live aright, for the Word of God is the light of my soul and your sacrament is the bread of life.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ) excerpt from Chapter 1, “Imitating Christ and Despising All Vanities on Earth (Grand Rapids, CCEL), p. 173.

I am safely in Pakistan and all is well. I am in a remote setting called Nathiagali, near Abbottabad.

God does little things in my travels to show me I can trust Him to provide necessary things such as food and light, or in today’s case, an extra bed. Long story short, our team needed an extra bed for lodging. We got to the place and the room God supplied had an extra bed in it.

Little things like this are not little. If you need food, ask for it. Jesus invites you to ask in the heart of the Lord’s Prayer.

Or we might share opportunities to help with others. Like yesterday, I asked you all to pitch to help with unexpected trip expenses yesterday, and no one responded so I am asking God to help. Come to my aid, Lord!

And if you need light, give thanks for the Word of God, which as Thomas puts it, is a “guiding light” for our feet to help us navigate this present darkness. Or the rolling blackouts – frequent daily power outages – that Pakistan is experiencing at this time.

When we aim to live, give, serve, and love generously, we often have needs, experience little human help, it is in those moments that we get to see God miraculously meet them. Yesterday, His divine provision of the extra bed strengthened the faith of the team members.

Where ever you are, God is with you. You can trust Him for food and light. I pray this helps sustain your generosity and remind you of the faithful source of everything you enjoy and share.

And the Lord said, “I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim My name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Exodus 33:19

“Trusting in Your goodness and great mercy, O Lord, I come as one sick to the Healer, as one hungry and thirsty to the Fountain of life, as one in need to the King of heaven, a servant to his Lord, a creature to his Creator, a soul in desolation to my gentle Comforter.

But whence is this to me, that You should come to me? Who am I that You should offer Yourself to me? How dares the sinner to appear in Your presence, and You, how do You condescend to come to the sinner? You know Your servant, and You know that he has nothing good in him that You should grant him this.

I confess, therefore, my unworthiness. I acknowledge Your goodness. I praise Your mercy, and give thanks for Your immense love. For it is because of Yourself that You do it, not for any merit of mine; so that Your goodness may be better known to me, that greater love may be aroused and more perfect humility born in me.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ) excerpt from Chapter 1, “Imitating Christ and Despising All Vanities on Earth (Grand Rapids, CCEL), p. 156.

By the time this posts, I have arrived safely in Pakistan. It is a place of desolation. I am “as one in need to the King of heaven.”

As my sabbatical draws to a close, a friend asked me this week what life looks like after my sabbatical. I said that if you read my Christian Leadership Alliance blog, “What is a sabbatical?” you discover that I have not shifted from “normal” to “nothing” but from the “normal” to the “needful” things.

In short, as my sabbatical concludes, I plan to shift make the “needful” things my new “normal” way of living.

And God keeps deploying me to serve His workers in hard places. I trust that his goodness will pass in front of me and bring blessing to places of desolation, like Pakistan.

I pray this for you too. That you will not choose the comfortable route because you think you deserve the blessings you have received. I pray you acknowledge God’s goodness and your unworthiness, and because you want to be a conduit of blessing, you move toward brokenness.

Someone asked me this week, “Is Jenni nervous that you are traveling to Pakistan?” I said, not only is she not stressed but supportive, but the truth is, I get home on 23 April, and then next day I take her to the airport to fly to Poland to teach at the seminary in Lviv, Ukraine for her fourth trip during the war.

Going to places riddle with desolation is not dangerous. It is life-giving diligent service. Dangerous would be to experience the goodness and mercy of God, to understand and know His love, and not share it with others as God opens doors.

As I serve in Pakistan, upon arrival I anticipate some unanticipated expenses, upwards of a few thousand dollars. I am opening some exciting new partnerships for Kairos to make context based theological education available to people who need it. I am also mentoring workers to have locally sustained ministries.

And another fruit of this trip will be a new and improved Generosity Monk website. I hope to roll it out by 25 June 2026 which will mark 17 years of Daily Meditations. Click here if you would like to give to help. Thank you.

Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor. And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with sores. Luke 16:19-20

Chapter 16 of this classic work is entitled “We Should Show Our Needs to Christ and Ask His Grace.” It’s short, here’s the entire chapter.

“O most kind, most loving Lord, Whom I now desire to receive with devotion, You know the weakness and the necessity which I suffer, in what great evils and vices I am involved, how often I am depressed, tempted, defiled, and troubled. To You I come for help, to You I pray for comfort and relief.

I speak to Him Who knows all things, to Whom my whole inner life is manifest, and Who alone can perfectly comfort and help me. You know what good things I am most in need of and how poor I am in virtue. Behold I stand before You, poor and naked, asking Your grace and imploring Your mercy.

Feed Your hungry beggar. Inflame my coldness with the fire of Your love. Enlighten my blindness with the brightness of Your presence. Turn all earthly things to bitterness for me, all grievance and adversity to patience, all lowly creation to contempt and oblivion.

Raise my heart to You in heaven and suffer me not to wander on earth. From this moment to all eternity do You alone grow sweet to me, for You alone are my food and drink, my love and my joy, my sweetness and my total good. Let Your presence wholly inflame me, consume and transform me into Yourself, that I may become one spirit with You by the grace of inward union and by the melting power of Your ardent love.

Suffer me not to go from You fasting and thirsty, but deal with me mercifully as You have so often and so wonderfully dealt with Your saints. What wonder if I were completely inflamed by You to die to myself, since You are the fire ever burning and never dying, a love purifying the heart and enlightening the understanding.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ) excerpt from Chapter 1, “Imitating Christ and Despising All Vanities on Earth (Grand Rapids, CCEL), p. 179.

The name Lazarus means “God is my help.” Have you ever thought of the fact that all of us are like Lazarus. We are covered with sores (that’s our sin) and unable to help ourselves.

Thomas keenly calls us all to show our needs to Christ and ask His grace. When we do, God helps us. When we don’t, we show that we neither understand our sin, nor grasp our need for His grace.

Linked to generosity, it is needful for us to take this humble posture so that our blindness or the lure of earthly things does not consume us. If we don’t see ourselves in need of help, we don’t understand the gospel.

Generosity is not something we do from our wealth, but something we share because of God’s mercy. It does not flow from our capacity but from is grace and love.

I am traveling from Chicago to Istanbul to Islamabad today. Pray for me. Pakistan is a dark place. While Christianity drips with love, Islam grips people in fear. I will interface with many Muslims on this trip.

Pray with me for opportunities to share the gospel clearly with them, because, as Charles Haddon Spurgeon once put it, “Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”

See yourself as a beggar and then see how it impacts your generosity. See yourself as anything but a beggar, and I don’t think you have a clue what generosity is. Ponder that.

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7

“If you wish that I come to you and remain with you, purge out the old leaven and make clean the dwelling of your heart. Shut out the whole world with all the din of its vices. Sit as the sparrow lonely on the housetop, and think on your transgressions in bitterness of soul.

Everyone who loves prepares the best and most beautiful home for his beloved, because the love of the one receiving his lover is recognized thereby. But understand that you cannot by any merit of your own make this preparation well enough, though you spend a year in doing it and think of nothing else.

It is only by My goodness and grace that you are allowed to approach My table, as though a beggar were invited to dinner by a rich man and he had nothing to offer in return for the gift but to humble himself and give thanks. Do what you can and do that carefully.

Receive the Body of the Lord, your beloved God Who deigns to come to you, not out of habit or necessity, but with fear, with reverence, and with love. I am He that called you. I ordered it done. I will supply what you lack. Come and receive Me.

When I grant the grace of devotion, give thanks to God, not because you are worthy but because I have had mercy upon you. If you have it not and feel rather dry instead, continue in prayer, sigh and knock, and do not give up until you receive some crumb of saving grace. You have need of Me. I do not need you.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ) excerpt from Chapter 1, “Imitating Christ and Despising All Vanities on Earth (Grand Rapids, CCEL), p. 174.

It is needful for us to realize that we need God, but He does not need us.

We get to approach Him because of His goodness (think: generosity) and grace. Not because of anything we have done. How does this reality shape our generosity? Two ways stand out to me.

First, everything to us is a gift of His goodness. Thomas urges us to abandon our vices and think on our sin. We are beggars invited to a dinner with nothing to offer but gratitude.

When we take that posture it changes us. We lose the toxic hint of entitlement, thinking we deserve any of the good gifts that come to us. We deserve none of them.

Second, when we see ourselves for who we really are and find ourselves in need, we can cry out for him to pour out grace on us. That’s what I am praying for the seminary administrators I am serving today.

They want to strengthen collections to their schools. That seems like financial or strategic work, but it is first and foremost spiritual work that starts in their lives. They need more grace.

It’s available to them, if they ask for it. And it is available to you too. I am calling out for it. Will you join me? The God who sorted this gorgeous sunset last night over Lake Michigan stands ready to help us.

And tonight I depart for Islamabad, Pakistan via Chicago, Istanbul. Thanks for your prayers for safe travel.

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:31-33

“The religious who concerns himself intently and devoutly with our Lord’s most holy life and passion will find there an abundance of all things useful and necessary for him. He need not seek for anything better than Jesus.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ) excerpt from Chapter 1, “Imitating Christ and Despising All Vanities on Earth (Grand Rapids, CCEL), p. 39.

I am still in the 14th century but shifting from one saint, Julian of Norwich, to another, Thomas à Kempis (or in English Thomas of Kempis).

Today, we discover abundance. People who don’t know Jesus think it is their job to sort all their basic needs. He says something different. He says to seek Him first and His kingdom and everything else will be sorted.

That’s what is “needful” for each of us. There’s nothing better than Jesus. I am thankful for His care. But the reality is that if we try to sort our own needs, we take on worry and fear that He does not want us to burden or bear.

I am in Michigan today facilitating meetings at Western Seminary for advancement officers from 10 of the leading seminaries in USA. This is the 23rd year that I have done this, since back in the days when I was VP of Advancement of Denver Seminary. It’s rewarding to serve and mentor these skilled workers.

Appreciate your prayers for a day filled with an abundance of blessings from our Lord Jesus Christ. And I pray an abundance of blessings on you, wherever you are. Together, let us live simply, give sacrificially, serve humble, and love generously.

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth. When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, he made no threats. Instead, He entrusted himself to Him who judges justly. 1 Peter 2:21-23

“Then said our good Lord Jesus Christ: Art thou well pleased that I suffered for thee? I said: Yea, good Lord, I thank Thee; Yea, good Lord, blessed mayst Thou be. Then said Jesus, our kind Lord: If thou art pleased, I am pleased: it is a joy, a bliss, an endless satisfying to me that ever suffered I passion for thee; and if I might suffer more, I would suffer more…

For which love He said full sweetly these words: If I might suffer more, I would suffer more. He said not, If it were needful to suffer more: for though it were not needful, if He might suffer more, He would. This deed, and this work about our salvation, was ordained as well as God might ordain it. And here I saw a full bliss in Christ: for His bliss should not have been full, if it might any better have been done.”

Julian of Norwich (c. 1342-c. 1416) in Revelations of Divine Love (Grand Rapids: CCEL, 1966), p. 25-26.

Today marks the seventh of seven posts in which Julian of Norwich uses my word for the year – needful – in her famous work, Revelations of Divine Love.

Here she interacts with Jesus who gives thanks for the privilege of suffering for her and expresses that if it was needful he would have suffered more. Think about this.

As we have been called to follow in Christ’s steps to suffer, likewise it may be needful for us to suffer more. Are we willing to suffer more like Jesus?

Today I depart for Holland, Michigan where I will serve for about 36 hours to facilitate a peer study at Western Seminary with representatives from ten leading seminaries in the USA.

I’ve facilitated this for 23 years. It’s a bit a work but really rewarding as it helps strengthen generosity to these schools who train thousands of students for lives of ministry and service.

Then I head to Pakistan for service from 14-23 April 2026. Click here if you would like to give to help send me. I will do ministry, shoot videos, and open up educational pathways for Christian workers.

When a close friend asked me last week if it was safe to travel to Pakistan, I replied, “No, it’s not safe.” But I do not go because it is safe. I go because God open doors and calls me to serve.

Though the U.S. State Department says, “Reconsider travel to Pakistan due to armed conflict, terrorism, crime, and kidnapping.” I am eager to return to Pakistan for my third visit.

God does great work through servants willing, if necessary, to suffer more. Where is He calling you to serve?