Thomas à Kempis: Strict and Detached

Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:27

“How strict and detached were the lives the holy hermits led in the desert! What long and grave temptations they suffered! How often were they beset by the enemy! What frequent and ardent prayers they offered to God! What rigorous fasts they observed! How great their zeal and their love for spiritual perfection! How brave the fight they waged to master their evil habits! What pure and straightforward purpose they showed toward God! By day they labored and by night they spent themselves in long prayers. Even at work they did not cease from mental prayer. They used all their time profitably; every hour seemed too short for serving God, and in the great sweetness of contemplation, they forgot even their bodily needs.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ (Grand Rapids, CCEL), p. 24.

Today marks the last post from our exploration of “needful” themes in this classic work.

Thanks everyone for your many comments to me commending me for my sabbatical. I want to share three highlights from my sabbatical which, in many ways, was strict and detached.

Please hear these not from any place of pride but from a humble posture of testimony, sharing what I learned.

First, I did the Daniel Fast for 40 days in my sabbatical. It was life-changing. I never dreamed that living on fruits, vegetables, and water (that means no coffee) would be so satisfying.

While such disciplines appear in the words of Thomas as “rigorous fasts” they are so good for the body. I did more than lose weight and start running again. It minimized my desires for things that don’t satisfy. Try it.

Second, I focused on writing as God said to write. When we have, as Thomas calls it, “pure and straightforward purpose” God helps us. He shows up for us. He certainly showed up for me.

By God’s grace I wrote 2.5 books. I realized that this was “needful” for me. It’s what God made me to do. If you live with purpose, you too can generously give yourself to what God made you to do.

Third, I trusted in the power of the gospel and saw God work in hard places by, in the words of Thomas, using all my “time profitably.” And I measure the profit not in dollars but in souls.

The best highlight of my sabbatical came from serving the persecuted church. Four people (three from China and one from Pakistan) are now following Jesus and will be in the kingdom because of how I focused my time.

So with Thomas today, I commend you to pursue a strict and detached life. Give yourself to things that give you and others life and see what happens.

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:13

“There is one thing that keeps many from zealously improving their lives, that is, dread of the difficulty, the toil of battle. Certainly they who try bravely to overcome the most difficult and unpleasant obstacles far outstrip others in the pursuit of virtue. A person makes the most progress and merits the most grace precisely in those matters wherein he or she gains the greatest victories over self and most mortifies his or her will.

True, each one has his or her own difficulties to meet and conquer, but a diligent and sincere person will make greater progress even though he or she has more passions than one who is more even-tempered but less concerned about virtue. Two things particularly further improvement — to withdraw oneself forcibly from those vices to which nature is viciously inclined, and to work fervently for those graces which are most needed.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ (Grand Rapids, CCEL), p. 38.

Today’s Scripture calls us to make hard decisions to zealously improve our lives.

In my sabbatical I read the book, Necessary Endings, by Henry Cloud. Therein, for zealously improving my life, I learned to give myself to things that are life giving. That’s my plan and prayer since my sabbatical is completed. Look for more energy than ever to go toward Generosity Monk.

And Thomas would urge me to withdraw forcibly from vices and to work fervently for the graces that are most needed. Why do this? If I get all the rooms in the proverbial house of my life cleaned out, I can live, give, serve, and love far more generously.

Jesus, help each of us zealously improve our lives, regardless of how hard the work might be, by withdrawing forcibly from vices and working fervently for the graces that are most needed. Amen.

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” 1 Peter 3:13-14

“When Christ was in the world, He was despised by men; in the hour of need He was forsaken by acquaintances and left by friends to the depths of scorn. He was willing to suffer and to be despised; do you dare to complain of anything? He had enemies and defamers; do you want everyone to be your friend, your benefactor? How can your patience be rewarded if no adversity test it? How can you be a friend of Christ if you are not willing to suffer any hardship? Suffer with Christ and for Christ if you wish to reign with Him.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ (Grand Rapids, CCEL), p. 42-43.

I have completed my sabbatical.

I am back to work today. The highlight of my sabbatical was serving the persecuted church in China and Pakistan and seeing the power of the gospel draw people to choose to follow Jesus.

Notice the words of Peter.

“Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?” Wherever you are today, focus on living, giving, serving, and loving generously. No one can harm you because nothing can touch one eager to do good.

But even if you do suffer, you are blessed.

Too often we complain in hard times. The persecuted church has taught me to persevere and trust that I will someday reign with Christ.

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

“Give place, then, to Christ, but deny entrance to all others, for when you have Christ you are rich and He is sufficient for you. He will provide for you. He will supply your every want, so that you need not trust in frail, changeable men. Christ remains forever, standing firmly with us to the end.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ (Grand Rapids, CCEL), p. 42.

People who put their trust in people are destined for disappointment. Why7 People are frail and changeable.

But when we put our trust in God, we have access to the riches of heaven and can count on abundant provision.

I am en route home from an indescribably good time of service in Pakistan. I’ll share more later.

For now, affirm your trust in Christ and celebrate that He will stand firmly with you to the end.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24

“Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and His angels.” Matthew 25:41

“To many the saying, “Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me,” seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.” Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the day of judgment. This sign of the cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the cross, who during life made themselves one with the Crucified, will draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ (Grand Rapids, CCEL), p. 57.

As I continue to explore what is ‘needful’ in this classic work, I love the fact that it is needful not fear the moment we meet Jesus if we have denied ourselves, taken up our crosses, and followed Him.

This inspires me to deny myself.

I want safety, but Jesus stretches me to trust Him to work in unsafe situations. I crave comfort, but Jesus calls me to Christlikeness which appears as choosing to live on mission which may not be comfortable.

This inspires me to take up my cross.

This implies the hardest thing I will ever do. It will not be easy. But if I am willing to risk everything, I gain the kingdom. If I count the cost and pay the price, the gain will be unimaginable.

This inspires me to follow Jesus.

I have learned that obedience seems hard but it is actually for my good and God’s glory. It has a cost but the cost is far less than the price of not doing it. If I obey, I experience God’s generosity.

Jesus, you did not hesitate to deny yourself and take up your cross. Help me do the same thing knowing that someday I will gain the kingdom with you. Amen.

Today is my last full day in Pakistan on this trip. Thanks for your prayers for fruitful meetings.

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, interacting with humble servants, whose service to me ranks at the top, worldwide.

They gave me so much love and 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 for the record, I got to Pakistan before J.D. Vance to bring the peace of Christ to this region for God’s glory not by power or might but by the Holy Spirit.

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.