The
monastics lifestyle during the medieval or the Christendom era has shown an
example of a good Christian lifestyle in many ways. To analyze the lifestyle of
the monastics, we should refer to the Benedict’s rule. The Benedict’s rule is
still used widely, especially by the Catholic Christian priest; furthermore,
the Rule of St. Benedict has been adopted in many other communities. The whole
concept of the Benedict’s rule could be summarized to the concept of praying
while working; the Latin quotes “ora et
labora.” The Benedict’s rules are categorized into three tables of living
by faith through grace by being humble and maintaining their chastity, showing
forth the living hope by praying while working or studying, and walking in
love. Following the Benedict’s rule, the monastic lifestyle was able to reflect
the city of God in their community and also specifically in every personal monks;
moreover, they become an example to the fallen world or which could be
considered as the city of man.
In
the modern world today, we seldom find a community or even personal, especially
Christians, that reflects the city of God through their lifestyle of living in
peace and in the righteous way. On the other side, many Christians live in an
unrighteous lifestyle that shows a bad example to the world rather than showing
a good and righteous example. The Christians today show that they don’t have
faith in God’s grace by relying only on their own ability; additionally, they
were not able to control their will of flesh such that God’s grace is not
powerful enough. Then, the people were not able to show the living hope in
their future by easily giving up in what they are doing rather than
surrendering it to God and try working or studying. In such lifestyle, they cause
the world to view the Christians in a negative way.
For
the Christians to be able to reflect a good example of the city of God in their
community and their personal lifestyle, they should apply and follow the
monastics lifestyle concept which is based on the Benedict’s rule. First, they
should live by faith through grace by maintaining a simple lifestyle and
chastity where we show that we have faith that God’s grace will provide for us
such that we will never be lacking and that God will give us enough power to
fight against our will of worldly flesh. Second, they should show forth the
living hope by praying and studying. The prayer shows how we believe that we
have hope in God while we study which shows that we are preparing ourselves for
our future hope. Last, they should walk in love such that we care for one
another. This way, they will be able to bear witness to the world and become an
example to the world of a righteous lifestyle. The Bible said in Matthew 5 that
that we are called to be the Salt and Light to the world which could mean that
we as a Christian should be an example to the world.
As a
personal application, I almost never care about setting the right example for
my friends since I never feel confidence about myself. I would rather follow my
friends to do the wrong thing such as cheating although I knew it was not
right. As the right Christian, I should change my wrong mindset which opposes
God’s calling of being the salt and light by following the monastics mindset
and lifestyle by living with faith, by showing forth the living hope, and by
walking in love so that I can become an example to the world an fulfill God’s
calling.
As a
conclusion, the monastics have shown us until today that through their
lifestyle, they were able to become an example to the world reflecting the city
of God. As a Christian we are also called to be the Salt and the Light to the
world; however, in the world today, many Christians tend to set the wrong
example rather than the right example to the world causing Christianity to be
viewed negatively. To be able to set the right example thorough the lifestyle,
we should follow the monastics lifestyle which is based on the Benedict’s rule.
We should love by faith through grace, we should show forth the living hope,
and we should which then enable us to become an example to the world and
fulfill our calling to be the Salt and Light.