Dale Cresap's blog

How much do you depend on the circumstances of your life to sustain your faith? In my word I tell you not to be unequally yoked with an unbeliever. You may ask what situations this applies to. For it implies that you do not need to isolate yourself from the world but certainly it would apply in marriage. Yet my word also addresses the matter of a believer married to an unbeliever. The unbeliever is free to depart in this situation but the believer is not. This commandment implies that I am able to sustain a believer even in this extreme situation. If you understand the true essence of your faith you know that it can stand regardless of the circumstances of your life. 

Do you want to learn and grow? Do you seek out the company of those who are in agreement with you? Do you find these to be contradictory goals? You can learn from those with whom you have points of disagreement. If you are in complete agreement with someone, what can you learn from them? You may avoid people you disagree with because the encounter can be challenging and uncomfortable, but being forced to reexamine your own positions is a key part of growth. Learn to see that those who bring this challenge to you are doing you a favor, and learn the difference between being in disagreement and being disagreeable.

Have you ever heard of blessings in disguise? Everyone prefers pleasant blessings that involve healing and provision that includes money. Yet you have already had experiences that were difficult but you realized that were for your ultimate benefit. Are you prepared to view these experiences as blessings? My word describes those who through faith obtained promises, deliverance from enemies, and even the dead raised to life. It goes on without interruption to describe those who endured hardships and afflictions without accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. Are you prepared to see all these things as blessings? 

Have you ever held a door open for someone else or had them hold one for you? This is a small act of common courtesy but it doesn’t happen in isolation. It is expected that the person for whom the door is held will move through without delay. It is considered rude to take your time while someone else is holding the door. Do you know that I hold doors open for you? Believers use this same language to describe life opportunities that I make available to you. In these cases a timely response is appropriate because the opportunities may be fleeting. It is rude for you to dawdle while I hold the door open. 

What pattern of development do you expect in your life as a Christian? Continual linear improvement? A school curriculum is a developed plan for learning in a methodical progression. Yet hasn’t your own experience included setbacks and unexpected delays and turns? This is all a part of my plan, for I told my followers to lay down their lives to follow me. You attended school for education but I have a greater goal in your life that you may be transformed into my likeness. Consider those whom you admire as being spiritually mature. Ask them if there were struggles along the way. I have a special plan for each of my followers and a special curriculum to prepare you for it, but there are some similarities and common elements. 

Do you expect to be rewarded for doing things right and punished for doing things wrong? This is the normal incentive structure for positive and negative reinforcement and is useful for training and instruction. Is your commitment to doing right rather than wrong strong enough to do so even if you are punished for doing right and rewarded for doing evil? My prophets were persecuted and killed for declaring my words faithfully. A real reward structure was still in place for them, but at a higher level than those around them could see. Are you motivated by a reward structure at a high enough level to do right even if you are persecuted by those around you that don’t see it? Let your light so shine before men. 

The last promise of the Old Testament is that Elijah will come and turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and the fathers to the children. After many silent years John the Baptist came and so it was only natural that he was asked if he was Elijah. He said clearly that he was not and only claimed to be a voice crying in the wilderness. Yet when I was asked the same question about John I said that he was Elijah. So which of us was right about the identity of John? I was, of course. Do you suppose that his humility was a factor in my additional statement that among those born of women there was none greater than John? 

You understand infrastructure to be the supporting resources of society. You need roads and utilities – water supply and an electrical grid. You are used to having these things and may only notice when they are out of service. I told a parable of wine and wineskins. Do you see the wineskins as being the infrastructure of the church? You need a place to meet and some level of organization for a church to function, but the essence of the church is wine, not wineskins. Consider and implement your supporting resources in such a way that they are really supporting and not existing for their own sake. Be ready to adopt new wineskins when I am serving new wine. 

Do you have a theology of rewards, or do you think that there is no distinction between those who are saved? What do you think of my admonition to lay up treasure in heaven? I make a clear distinction between laying up treasure in this world and laying up treasure in heaven, and that they are not the same type of treasure. If you save money in this world you will have a more comfortable retirement. This passage of scripture clearly implies that it is beneficial for you to lay up treasure in heaven. Even if you do not know exactly what it looks like, can you see that it is a worthwhile thing to do? 

In one of my last encounters with my disciples I prayed for the church before it existed. I acknowledged that my followers were not of this world, even as I was not, and sanctified them, and commissioned them, sending them on in my name. I did not pray for them alone, but also for those who would believe through their words. I prayed that they would be one, not as second class citizens who had a diminished connection being one step further removed from the source, but one in every measure of unity, of glory, and perfection in my presence. This was my desire for all who would follow me. What greater ideal could I proclaim for my church?