Dale Cresap's blog

Your car is a vehicle. You use it to go from one place to another, and it requires fuel and maintenance to keep doing this. Do you view your body as a temple? You could also think of it as a vehicle. You can walk from one place to another, but in a more profound sense, your body is a vehicle for your spiritual journey through life. Do you wash your car and keep the oil changed because you depend on it for transportation? How important is it to you to have a dependable vehicle for your spiritual journey?

Have you ever heard of the human mind being compared to a computer, or vice versa? This may have been a useful way to understand early computers. Now that computers can beat human opponents at chess, does it seem that computers have surpassed people?  But computers are machines and will never equal people. Computers will never have free agency, will not have compassion, empathy, or a conscience. Computers will never love and they are not alive, as you are. No matter how fast and powerful they are at processing instructions they are not fearfully and wonderfully made, and you are.

Does your church have a music ministry? This position is invariably referred to as worship leader. How do you evaluate the performance of a worship leader? You don’t do it by watching them or listening to them. If they are effective leaders you should see the congregation respond by entering into worship. If they sit silently and passively are they spectators or participants? It is possible to have a spiritual experience without an outward indication, but if the people are not involved perhaps those on the stage should be called performers.

Have you ever heard of blessings in disguise? Are you grateful for the means of grace I use in your life? Do you assume that these will be pleasant and comfortable? Perhaps you should revisit this assumption. Have you ever had your trials and difficulties draw you closer to me? Do these things get your attention more quickly than abundant provision? These are things you would not welcome, but are they really bad if they draw you closer to me and bring forth my image and likeness in your life? Then are you prepared to think of them as blessings even if they come to you in disguise? 

Do you like stories? Do you find stories to be more enjoyable if you get involved in them and give yourself over to them, identifying with the characters, and feeling their emotional content? Do you study the Bible? Do you treat the Bible as a revealed text, investigating it as a scholar, parsing out the meaning of words to draw fixed and defensible conclusions? But the Bible is a book of stories. Do you think it would be acceptable for you to get involved in the stories, giving yourself over to them, identifying with the characters, and feeling the full weight of their emotional content?

Are you led by the Spirit? Do you arrive at this conclusion by deduction, saying I must because I am a son of God, or do you perceive this directly from your experience? Do you think this has to involve drama? Do you know people who claim to experience the leading of the Spirit that way? If you require drama I can provide it, but it is not what I prefer. Do you remember the man of God who experienced an earthquake and a storm and I was not in these things, but I spoke to him in a still small voice?

You know better than to hold your material possessions with a death grip and identify with them. Do you feel more closely identified with your beliefs? Do you consider them to be the essence of your identity? But have you lived long enough to find that you have acquired beliefs that did not serve you, that did not line up with the reality of life? It is OK to revisit your beliefs and subject them to scrutiny. It is OK to discard them if they are found wanting. I promised to lead you into all truth. Do you see your life as an ongoing process of revelation?

How do you see yourself? Do you see yourself primarily in the essence of your humanity or as the sum of your attachments? It takes spiritual progress to realize that the combination of your attachments is not the real you. How do you see other people? The same question applies, but this takes it to the next level. You can’t see other people in the essence of their humanity until you can see yourself the same way. The problem is compounded if they insist on an identity as the sum of their attachments, as most people do. But you can help them. Let your light so shine before men.

Have you heard of recommended daily allowances or minimum daily requirements? These are recommended intake values for nutrients such as vitamins and minerals. They are based on the principle that certain things are required on a daily basis. You can’t take a month or a year’s worth at one time and expect good results. Some things are consumed as you go and can’t be stored up. Do you see a spiritual parallel here? Can you get your spiritual nourishment once a year or even once a week? What do you need spiritually on a daily basis? Are you getting your recommended daily allowance?

Can you be a victim and an oppressor at the same time? Have you ever known anyone with victim mentality? Did you enjoy their company? So these attributes typically occur together. Victim mentality is an aspect of narcissism and you notice it in people who magnify and are consumed with their own problems. Do you find their presence and negative expression to be oppressive? Don’t follow this path yourself. Ask me to open your eyes to see your blessings and develop a sense of gratitude. Express this openly and others will find your presence to be encouraging and refreshing.