Dale Cresap's blog

My dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about 2 weeks ago, and my sister and I enrolled him in hospice care during my visit there. He and my mother are both over 90, both have cancer and are in hospice care but are not yet in pain, and are still roommates in the same care facility. There is no longer any real interaction between them so this isn’t as romantic as it sounds, but they are still living congruent lives. 

Have you heard that I have a plan for your life? You hear this from evangelists trying to get people saved, and it is true. Do you also have a plan for your life? It seems that everyone has a preferred future scenario for their life, and a realistic one they expect to fulfill. Does it occur to you that I have a better story for your life than you have for yourself? Haven’t you seen this in your own life and the life of others already, with open doors you thought were locked? You may envision a career for yourself but I have a destiny for you. I still offer abundant life. Don’t let your own plan for your life prevent you from finding mine. 

Are you a fussy eater? Parents despair of children who will not eat what is served to them, and such children can be malnourished if they get their way. Parents have a greater knowledge of nutrition and the true needs of the child. Do you see a spiritual parallel? Perhaps you don’t like the spiritual food I serve you. There is plenty of spiritual junk food readily available, but if you choose it instead you can become spiritually malnourished. Healthy adults have acquired a taste for food that is good for them. Can you trust me to provide you the proper spiritual nourishment for you until you acquire a taste for it? 

There are few reigning kings in the world today but even so coronations are still big events with pageantry and worldwide media coverage so everyone knows about them. There was an exception to this in ancient Israel with David who had to be fetched from his sheep to be anointed king, and apparently went back to tending them. The only witnesses were his brothers who were resentful. David conducted himself in a kingly manner even though recognition would not come until much later. Are you willing to walk in the fullness of your calling even if no one notices? Do you need a title to serve me? 

My word says that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Do you assume this refers to your money and the way you spend it? You are right but your spending habits are not the only monetary indication of your values. How you earn your money says a lot about you too. Don’t be quick to say that you took the only job available to you, or that your job has no spiritual dimension. Didn’t I say that if you were the servant of all you would be great in the Kingdom of God? What jobs are there that don’t require you to serve others? If you can’t reconcile your current job with serving me then ask me for a new one. 

Do you make it your permanent and only goal to do everything right? Can you see how this might work against you? Consider the story of the prodigal son. He made a huge mistake in demanding his inheritance and departing from his father’s house for a life of indulgent dissipation. Yet he came to himself and returned to his father’s house to be restored. Consider the older brother in comparison. He did everything right for which he was resentful and at the end of the story is outside his father’s house. The younger son did everything wrong and learned from it. The older son did everything right and did not. If your mistakes cause you to come to yourself and return to me they will have accomplished their purpose. 

Do you associate with people based on common beliefs? Have you noticed that I didn’t? Most of my followers shared my Jewish faith, but I interacted with Romans, a Samaritan woman,  and a Siro-Phoenician woman, and told a story commending the faith of a Samaritan. I lived in a deeply pluralistic faith culture, as you do, and my Jewish followers struggled with my openness and interaction with ‘outsiders’. Do you? I knew how to navigate the religious landscape of my day, and taught my disciples that I had other sheep who were not of this fold. They didn’t understand this at the time, but it is an enduring truth. Do you understand it now? 

Have you heard the famous quote that all that glitters is not gold? This is a profound truth that you should be aware of since you live in a culture full of glitter that is highly esteemed. Yet it consists of more appearance and less substance, and a closer examination finds little of real value. It is also true that all that is gold doesn’t glitter. Your search for truth may lead you to seemingly mundane places and ordinary events. Don’t let this discourage you. If you continue in my word you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free, and you shall have treasure in heaven that is better than gold. 

Do you understand that happiness is linked to gratitude? You don’t just have my word on this. It is supported by scientific evidence. To explain this in simple terms you must know that there is something you need of great value to you that you cannot obtain on your own, but it is freely given to you. Wouldn’t you expect those with a sense of autonomy, independence, and self-sufficiency to be happier? But they are living an illusion, and this does not lead to happiness. Blessed are those who know that they are not separate and autonomous, who know they freely receive blessings, and know whom to address the thank-you note to. 

I told my followers to lay down their lives and pick up their cross and follow me. Paul mentioned that he had been given a thorn in the flesh as a messenger of Satan to buffet him. Do you think of these things as curses? Yet these are things of redemptive value so they cannot be curses. From his thorn in the flesh Paul learned that my grace was sufficient for him, and your cross is not a curse. It should be the normal expectation for every believer. You can see the redemptive purpose in my cross. Can you see the redemptive purpose in your own? If not, do not ask that your cross be taken away, but rather that your eyes would be opened to see.