Dale Cresap's blog

I promised to return, so you can count on that. My word supplies some information about the events leading up to this, but I didn’t include a timeline, so people have taken it upon themselves to generate their own. Yet the many predictions of the date of my return have all turned out to be premature. How should you approach this issue? You know better than to set a date yourself. Should you concentrate on your own spiritual formation and ministry, or events to come? The certainty of my return and the realization that it could be soon should inspire you to be good and faithful stewards now. 

Does it bother you that I expect you to grant forgiveness freely? Does it seem like you are letting the people who hurt you get away with it? Does it appear that this requires you to revisit offenses against you with no justice or resolution? I do expect you to revisit these situations but not for the purpose of obtaining justice. The process of granting forgiveness changes you. It allows you to release the offense and deal with it in a way that renders it harmless against you. My word teaches you to be transformed into my likeness. Granting forgiveness is a way that you can participate in this process.

My word tells the story of two of my disciples who were on the road to Emmaus. It doesn’t say why they were going there, and Emmaus is not a prominent place in the Bible. Do you ever consider your own life to be quite ordinary, living in and going to places that are not special, and doing routine tasks? But the details of the business in Emmaus were not central to the story. The point was that my presence changed everything. This same principle applies in your life even if you consider it to be otherwise ordinary. My presence infuses divine life into your life and makes the ordinary extraordinary. 

Have you ever quoted the verse about all things working together for good for those who love God to someone in extreme heartache and tragic devastation? Have you ever had it quoted to you in similar circumstances? Which did you enjoy more? That verse is in scripture, but it is better for you to affirm and embrace it because I have given it to you than for some would-be comforter to quote it casually. This is a powerful statement if it is spoken in first person by someone in the midst of great suffering, to affirm their steadfastness in me and declare that good will come of it.

Is it easy to see the logic that you have to give up harmful and detrimental things to do the work that I have set before you? Is it harder to understand that you also have to give up things that are good and beneficial? Consider the most productive people you know. Are they involved in everything? You really can be spread too thin. Do you have a sense of destiny? You may have many things competing for your time and attention, but I have not called you to all of them. I have given you a future and a hope, and enough energy to carry them out. Lay aside weights, even those that are good, that you may run the race set before you. 

Are you influenced by the culture you live in? This is inevitable, even as a fish is immersed in water. This influence can be good or bad, or a combination of these. Are you aware of the influence your culture has on you? Don’t assume that you are. It takes a deliberate effort. You are so close to it that you accept its values unless you consciously evaluate them. I want you to make this effort. Then you can embrace and affirm the positive things that it gives you, and oppose and reject those things that work against you. A fish has no alternative but to live in the water, but it can swim against the current. 

Do you know that I am with you always, watching over you and protecting you? You have to sleep, but I don’t. You may be weary from self-preservation, but you would have greater peace if you knew I was doing this for you. Do you think you live in a dangerous world? You are aware of threats and hazards, but are you aware that I am greater than these and that no one can pluck you from my hand? I tell you not to fear, and give you every reason not to. Choosing peace rather than fear is more than a more pleasant frame of mind. It will allow you to walk the path that I have set before you and do what I have called you to do. 

Are you led by the Spirit? How would you know? One approach is a logical deduction from scripture. If you know you are a son of God, you can make this claim by inference. That is not the same as knowing it by first-hand experience. How do you know this as a practical matter? Do you have thoughts that come to you during the day, popping into your mind from out of the blue? All these common figures of speech suggest that not all of your thoughts originate with you. I can speak in limitless ways, but this is a primary one you should be attentive to. If these are good ideas and you act in response to them, you will be able to see in hindsight you are led by the Spirit. 

Have you ever heard that the visible evidence in support of the gospel message is the transformed lives of those who respond to it? Do you think that this transformation consists of going to church? Your unsaved friends, who are the focus of the Great Commission, to whom you are to be the salt of the earth and before whom you are to let your light shine that they may glorify me, do not see it this way. They think of church as the way you spend your spare time, even as they spend theirs in other ways. They think of this transformation as the way treat them and conduct yourself outside of church, and they are right. 

[leaving town for a few days]

When you meet an acquaintance and ask how they are doing, do you find that the most common reply is that they have been busy? Do you know anyone who would not claim this as the status of their life? Have you ever made the same statement to others? Does it appear to be an excuse between friends for not maintaining the friendship, or in a more general sense for not doing the important things that matter in life? My word contains an account of Mary and Martha. What do you learn from this? I know you have duties to fulfill. Can you relate to others without saying that you are busy?