Dale Cresap's blog

Even if you have wandered 10,000 miles from me the journey back is just a single step. How can this be? Even when you depart from me I don’t depart from you. For I am with you always, just as I promised. Do you understand my statement that my Kingdom is within you? I took up residence there and I’m not leaving, so it is easier for you to be alienated from yourself than from me. My word warns against being double-minded or having your understanding darkened. Knowing yourself and knowing me are closely related. Turn to me and open your eyes to see clearly in the light of truth. 

I told my disciples to do and to teach all that I had commanded them. Does this require you to point out to people the error of their ways? Yet I also told you not to judge others. How can you correct without being critical? How can you judge without being judgmental? The default operating mode of most people is to attach judgment to observation. Therefore you don’t have to make a deliberate effort to do this. You have to make a deliberate effort not to. Can you point out where someone has gone astray without proceeding to condemnation? I did. The gospel is meant to be a message of life and hope. It really is good news. If you have received this good news and been transformed by it then present it in such a way that it will have the same effect on others. 

My word tells you that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Does that mean you can do anything you want? Do you apply this concept only to positions of prestige and recognition? Even if all things are lawful to you not all things are profitable. Have you ever tried to do anything that I have not given you? Yet you do have a future and a hope, a destiny in me. For I have called you for a specific plan and purpose. No one person can do everything and you weren’t meant to. But I have given you an aptitude, and all the other resources you need to fulfill the calling I have for you. This calling is profitable for you and me and there is no reason for you to be envious of the callings of others or discontented with your own. 

Jacob was going from one place to another when he ran out of daylight and spent the night. He didn’t think it was a special place, but he had a dramatic vision of ascending and descending ladders and when it was over he said surely God is in this place and I didn’t know it. This surprised him. His theology was not as advanced as yours is, so he didn’t hold the doctrine of omnipresence as you do. Do you hold this as a doctrinal position only, or is it an accomplished reality in your life? Do you have the same sense of my presence everywhere you go, whether you are at church or at home or at work, or driving in between? It is one thing to affirm that I am everywhere and another to have a constant conscious awareness of it. What effect would it have on your life if you did? 

Do you fast as a part of your faith observances? Is it the fast that I have chosen? The default assumption is that faith practices involve self-denial and afflicting your soul. Yet I have spoken to this matter with great emphasis. I don’t want your self-afflictions as much as I want your love, compassion, and generosity to others. There are many ways to fast that don’t require giving up all food. Some abstain from chocolate or everything except fruits and vegetables. This same concept can be extended beyond food to include activities, and it can be further extended to include positive acts rather than abstinences. What actions can you take to become more thoughtful, considerate, and compassionate toward those around you? 

Do you question everything? Would you rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned? Come to me. I am not threatened by your questions. My word teaches you to prove all things. Do you have the courage to go there? Do you have the greater courage to follow the rest of the verse and hold fast that which is good? This implies that your search for truth shouldn’t just make you a rebel and a critic and a cynic. If you are teachable you will be changed by the truth you encounter. Hold your inquisitive curiosity in a state of grace. If you do this it will lead you to the mystery of a transformed life that I promised those who follow me. 

You speak of my presence and seek it out for good reasons. Are you aware that other people also have a sense of presence that you can discern? Do you know that you have a presence yourself? How sensitive are you to discerning presence? I was the most luminous presence on earth yet most people didn’t realize that. A few did, as the Roman soldiers who said, ‘never a man spoke like this before’, and Peter who said, ‘to whom shall we go? For you have the words of life’. But your presence speaks before you do, and you have experienced this when a person enters the room and the atmosphere changes before they even speak. How sensitive are you to the presence of others? Can you discern and respond to those in need before they ask? What does your own presence communicate to others? 

Do you have a legal case against me? Job did and he pleaded his case with as much articulate passion as any attorney in a courtroom. You may not have done this in so explicit a manner, but have you ever held a legal claim against me in your heart? Perhaps you think you were treated unfairly in the circumstances of your life and have no one else to blame. When you examine yourself at the time of communion you need not limit it to a review of the sins you have committed. If you have adopted thoughts and attitudes that interfere with your relationship with me you should let them go. I didn’t defend myself against Job’s accusations, but I did ask him some questions that put our roles in perspective. If you understand this you can release your claims of justice against me. 

Have you had a dramatic encounter with me? Moses did, and so did Paul, and Jacob, and so many other characters in the Bible. From reading my word do you get the idea that this was the rule rather than the exception? But do you find this is rare today? You describe your faith in terms of a relationship with me. That implies an encounter of some sort. Does it have to be dramatic? Some people, like Paul, required that. But I don’t. Drama is more for the need of the individual than for me. Moses had a dramatic encounters with me, but I also spoke to him face to face as a man speaks with his friend. I have also called you my friends, and I can speak to you in a still small voice. 

You are familiar with the Golden Rule stated as ‘do unto others as you would have them to do unto you’. It isn’t limited to Christianity; nearly every faith tradition in the world makes the same affirmation. Do you know the reason for following the Golden Rule? Do you assume that in doing this for others you build up an account of favor and goodwill that you can draw on when needed? Yet you have no guarantee that others will do unto you as you would have them do. You don’t need the assurance that others will follow the Golden Rule if you do. You can do it because you are the children of your Father in heaven.