Dale Cresap's blog

Do you see your life as a journey? Journeys can be lengthy and strenuous and involve obstacles along the way. What do you see as the greatest hindrance to your further progress? Could it be the progress you have already made? This is not an external obstacle, but one you face within. You are further along than when you began. Are you content to remain where you are now? I called you to follow me. This is a permanent condition and does not end when you have made some progress. Don’t let the pleasant things you have obtained so far cause you to settle and remain here. Keep pressing in and you will find there is so much more awaiting you.

How do you view the process of salvation? Do you view it as doing me a great favor in giving me your heart? Or did I do a favor for you? Who would die in the place of someone else? Certainly this is the ultimate gesture of friendship. Greater love has no man than this. You may think of rare situations in which someone of the highest character would die for someone else who is also of the highest character. But I died for you while you were still a sinner, because you needed a savior. I did this freely and without regrets, but let there be no question about who was doing a favor for whom.

Do you think that every prayer is answered? Have you heard of blessings in disguise? When you pray do you have an idea in mind as to what the answer will look like? But I am not constrained to answer according to your preconceptions. If the events that follow do not fit your template, do you assume that your prayer was rejected? I am also free to answer according to my own schedule. But here is another possibility to consider. Examine the events that occurred after your prayer and consider whether I was using them to reply to you. Enlarge your field of vision. You may already have my answer in your hand.

Have you ever needed to be rescued? Do you think of this as being cast adrift on a deserted island or injured climbing a mountain or in an airplane crash? Not all rescue situations are so dramatic. Who has not experienced a vehicle breakdown that required assistance? But there are rescue situations that are even more commonplace. How many people lead lives of desperation, trapped by habits, thought patterns, or circumstances they cannot control? Yet help is available in these situations too. Can you see these needs in others and offer what they need? The more difficult thing is to see the need in yourself and issue the cry for help.

Do you have a heartbreaking story from your own life? Do you tell it to everyone you meet? Most people have such a story, and most people do not tell it to everyone. There are good reasons for not doing so, but the pain and sorrow you feel are just as real whether you share them widely or not. Can you do the math in your head and see the logical inference? It is safe to assume that the other people you meet are going through trials of their own even if they don’t share them with you. This is all the more reason to be kind to everyone you meet. You never know who will need an extra measure of it.

How often do you marvel that you should be so highly favored by me? Is this a routine experience for you? If not, it isn’t because I have neglected to bless you. People have their favorites, and give them preferential treatment out of the limited resources they have. Necessity forces them to pick and choose and set priorities, but I face no such limitations. I can treat each one as my favorite, and I do. It is one thing to acknowledge this as a theological construct, and another to walk in the overwhelming awareness of it. I want you to know this by experience and rejoice and be grateful.

Do you see yourself as pilgrim on a sojourn? There is a Biblical basis for this image and it is an accurate description of a walk of faith. You can also see yourself as a member of a body. These are different images, but both are valid, and one does not contradict the other. Your sojourn should include travel on both paved and unpaved roads. There is value in making progress with others on established routes. Do you understand that there is also value in walking with me in solitude, and that you will not always travel with a crowd? I have a destination for you, and some of the roads on the way are not paved.
 

Has your decision to follow me resulted in your being misunderstood by those around you? I too was misunderstood, and told my followers to expect the same thing, since it follows logically. Did it come as a surprise when it was from those within your own church and faith tradition? Yet this happened to me too. My own received me not. Even so, you can’t build a life around being offended at being misunderstood, no matter who does it. I am calling you to continue to follow me, looking forward rather than looking back, and living a life of affirmation rather than reaction. Accept the consequences and choose not to be offended.

What is the biggest hindrance in your life? Most people would say it is a lack of money, but it is more likely to be fear. The way you view the world will affect your experience of it, and it is the fearful and unbelieving rather than the poor who are outside the Kingdom of God. Haven’t you observed this already, that those who face the world unafraid lead lives of richness and abundance whether they have much money or not? You do not know what the future holds, but even though you face it with uncertainty, you can also face it without fear, and take the actions you need to lead an abundant life. Love casts out fear.

Have you ever driven a hard bargain? Your system of a market economy leaves the door open for you to negotiate prices. Market conditions can influence prices. In particular, if the seller is in a difficult financial position and selling out of necessity it gives the buyer a stronger negotiating position for a lower price. Yet I declared the principle of not taking advantage of widows or others who were poor. There are conditions in which you should not push for the very lowest price or the hardest bargain you can get. Do you understand the importance of generosity? Do you understand that it can apply to transactions as well as donations?