Seeking Imperfection
A righteous man will seek to imitate Christ, when and only when he is certain he will fail.
When I first experience the saving grace of my Lord Christ Jesus, now ten years ago, I grabbed onto the scriptures with all my mind could muster. I studied the expectations and commands listed among the pages of the Holy Book, and I desperately tried to apply these to my daily. I purchased other books on basic theology and breathed in the words of great men before me, in hopes of pushing all that was evil out of my mind by filling it to the brim with the knowledge of God and His centuries of followers. One such purchase was "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis. A classic devotional on which to meditate, but not one I should have been reading at such an early point in my faith.
When I first picked up the book, which I have failed to read again in the last 8 or so years, I took it at title value. I was looking to do just as the name suggests; imitate Christ Jesus as closely as I could manage. And while any good Christian might think momentarily that that is a respectable objective, it is actually a dangerous one. Again, I was new to salvation, still sipping milk, desperately thirsty for the Word. In being such, I was also very unwise. I had not truly explored doctrinal debates, major discussions of the bible and its lessons, and I had not truly accepted, or even properly learned, the Gospel of Christ Jesus. I had at this point learned the common gospel, in words and verse clips, while missing the most potent and important part; salvation by GRACE alone, through FAITH alone, in CHRIST alone.
Now in the pursuit to imitate the only perfect man to ever exist, I walked blindly down the path of legalism. I fell hard every time I fell short. I took all biblical law literally, and preached to the fallen like I was somehow better at climbing. I became a Pharisee without realizing it. There are many of these types of Christians about today. Most of the Catholic church teaches one form or another of legalism. It focuses heavily on following the rules, and paying penance when a rule is broken. It puts salvation, or at least part of it, in the hands of the drowning man. It leaves room to boast at ones success, while crippling the spirit with each failure; so many failures.
Let me take a minutes to explore some of the dangers of my pursuit. First, the previously stated legalistic outlook can poison the gospel you preach to others. It ignores Grace, and piles on works, which lead to death. Second, it denies, even if not consciously, the saving work of Christ Jesus on the cross. Like all works based faith, it implies that Christ's finished work on the cross, His spilled blood and sacrifice for our sins, was not enough. It was enough to get us motivated to finish saving ourselves? No. His sacrifice was the only one needed, and we need only believe on Him to be saved. Third: It leads to pride in oneself, in that the very endevour is to seek godhood. To imitate Christ is to be perfect before God the Father, showing no fault or blame. No man is capable. We exist in corrupted vessels. Our flesh has already robbed us of perfection, and only through spiritual rebirth can we be made perfect again.
Let's pretend for just a moment that I was able to succeed in my goal. I was able to imitate Christ Jesus in my actions, thoughts, motivations, prayer life, and ministry (somehow atoning for and eliminating all past sins before God) Well then I just removed Christ from my salvation, did I not? And at that point, attaining perfection by imitation, I would not need the very savior I worked so hard to replicate. I would then, in all my perfection, be spitting in the face of my savior, declaring Him unnecessary. In essence, even believing my own perfection possible outside of grace and the atoning works of Christ alone, is rejection of the only true Gospel, and therefore rejection of salvation.
I could talk in circles about the logical fallacies of works salvation all day, but let me jump back to my first statement:
"A righteous man will seek to imitate Christ, when and only when he is certain he will fail."
We should, by all means, seek to be more Christ-like in our actions, motives, thoughts, prayers, and ministries. However, only once we have come to the realization of our incapability to do so, and therefore a complete dependency on Christ Himself to guide our hearts and minds, accepting the necessity of His completed saving work and our own guaranteed failure at perfection outside of Him, can we be counted righteous and rewarded for any such similarity to the Son of God.
"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
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