Day 30: Deep Trust in God (Imitation of Christ. Bk. 4. Ch. 15-18)

• 
  Is TKIC (Thomas Kempis, Imitation of Christ) "basic stuff" or "penetrating profound stuff"?
• If you finished TKIC, is every single page worth going back over again?
• Can I read TKIC every day and get something new every time?
• Do you have a prideful need to understand?

Ch. 14: Humility is how you get the grace of devotion and self-denial. You must be dogged in seeking grace. Humble yourself when you feel no devotion within. Grace must be waited for with good hope and humble patience. Blame yourself and your sins when it is not given. Empty yourself of all disordered love (unregulated attraction) or displeasure (aversion) toward any created thing (creature). The more completely one renounces lower things and dies to himself by despising himself, the quicker grace comes. 

Ch. 15: We should open our needs up to Christ and ask for his grace. You know my weakness and the needs I suffer. You know how frequently I am burdened, tempted, troubled and defiled. You know how poor I am in virtue. I beg for mercy. Turn everything earthly to bitterness for me. Do not let me wander on the earth. 

Ch. 16: Ardent love and strong desire to receive Christ. I long and yearn to receive You. 

Ch. 17: A person should not be an overly curious investigator of the sacrament, but instead a humble imitator of Christ, submitting his own way of thinking to the holy faith. One who searches out glory will be barred from glory. God can do more than my ability to understand. Do not get into an argument with your thoughts. Do not respond to the doubts the devil sends. God does not deceive. The one who ends up deceived is the one who gives himself too much credence (places too great a trust in himself). If God's works (deeds) could be easily grasped like human reason, they would not be called wondrous or ineffable (beyond human description).

• When it comes to God, trust—not perfect understanding—is what makes us disciples.
• The journey forward is marked not by mastering perfect understanding but by persevering with trust in our God who loves us.
• TKIC is the 2nd best-selling spiritual work of all time.
• Pride is "I can only accept this when I understand it."
• Do you go after things that are way beyond you and beyond your grasp?
• God has to reveal Himself for us to know him. So approach Him humbly.