The Imitation of Christ. Book 2. Chapter 1-5: Distrust of Self.

Book 2. Day 6. Chapter 1-5 (Distrust of Self) focus on the vanity of worldly things, the importance of humility, and the pursuit of inner peace through God. The 2 movements of conversion are distrust of oneself and trust in God.

• Ch. 1. Learn to disregard externals and give yourself to what is within, for the kingdom of God is within you (Lk 17:21).
• When Christ is within you He is enough for you...and you will have no need of hoping in human beings. Do not have much confidence in human beings, who are frail and mortal and soon change (Jn 2:24-25).
• If you love Jesus you will disregard your very self, and totally disregard personal convenience or inconvenience.
• Nothing stains and binds the human heart quite like an impure love for creatures (Exo 20:3-4, 17; Rom 7:8, 24).

• 
  Ch. 2. Have a good conscience (Ac 24:16; 1 Pet 3:16) and God will defend you.
• If God helps you no one can harm you (Rom 8:31).
• The humble person can accept complaints and frustrations and be quite at peace, for he remains in God and not in the world (1 Jn 2:15-17).
• Do not think of yourself to have made progress unless you see yourself as beneath everyone (Rom 12:3; Phil 2:3).

• 
  Ch. 3. Put yourself at peace first (Phil 4:7; Gal 5:22-23), and then you will be able to bring others to peace. The good peaceable person turns everything to good.
• You are truly humble when you accuse yourself and excuse your brother, and not youself make excuses, when know how to be angry with yourself and not with others (Mt 7:3-4).
• Learning to live agreably and peacfully with the difficult, perverse, undiciplined or those who go against you is a praiseworthy great grace.
• One who knows how to suffer better will have greater peace.

• Ch. 4. Simplicity means being intent on God. Seek nothing but God's good pleasure and your neighbor's good. Everthing that happens--the good, the bad, the ugly--is God drawing us closer to himself and therefore always good (Rom 8:28; Gen 50:20).
• There is no one who does not represent God's goodness in some way.
• Each person judges outwardly what he is inwardly.

• 
  Ch. 5. We cannot trust in ourselves because we often lack grace. The light in us is meager and we often loose it through our negligence. I am weak and need God's help.
• Regard whatever consolation that comes to you from a creature as totally vain.