Dale Cresap's blog

What sort of incentive structure do you think is most effective in getting results from people? Generous rewards for doing the right thing and severe discipline for errors? This is conventional wisdom but my word says that it is my goodness that leads people to repent. I am looking for more than superficial or temporary changes. In your own experience can you confirm that that was the way I dealt with you? I have called you to take part in the Great Commission. Do you think the same methods that I used on you will be effective for you to use on others? Love your enemies for in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on their heads. 

Do you see salvation as an individual event? People enter the Kingdom of God one at a time. Yet that is the beginning of the story rather than the end. For that concept can lead believers to think of themselves as independent and autonomous. But when the church was born I added to it those who were being saved. The illustration I use for my people is that of a body. No organ has an independent existence, or can live apart from the body. The same principle applies to you and I make this point emphatically in scripture. Even though you were saved as an individual you weren’t saved to live in isolation. Take your place in my body.  

Do you see yourself as a tumbleweed? This unusual plant when it is grown breaks free from its connection to the ground, and its round shape allows the wind to roll it across the open plains. Using this terminology to refer to a person is not considered a compliment because it implies aimless drifting. Yet my word describes my Spirit as wind that you don’t know the source or destination of. It also teaches you to be led by the Spirit. You should get a positive connotation from combining these concepts. Be available to move when the wind of the Spirit blows, and don’t judge those who appear to be drifting, for they may be led by the Spirit. 

Are you busy? Whenever you connect with a friend do you tell them that you have been busy, and they say the same thing in reply? Is this normally spoken with a sense of apology and regret? This is the condition of the modern age. You have more resources available to you now than ever before, and more opportunities. Are you satisfied with the resulting life? Hardly anyone really wants to go back and give up the things available today. Use them without letting them distract you from your true purpose and destiny. Know who you are and why you are here and move forward in the abundant life I offer you. 

Have you heard of seeker-friendly churches? My word refers to seekers, but this term implies something else. It means those who are casual or tentative in their search. The seekers mentioned in my word are understood to be pilgrims and sojourners, moving forward even as they wander, and never looking back. There is an implied full commitment to continue on despite hardships and loneliness and weariness, for what they seek is not of this world, even as I am not of this world. Does this sound discouraging? Doesn’t my word promise that if you seek you will find? It promises that if you seek me you will find me if you seek for me with all your heart. 

Early theologians worked out the basic creed of your faith that I am fully God and fully human. Both aspects are important. Those who encountered me on earth needed no convincing that I was fully human as I stood before them. I had no form or comeliness that they should desire me. I wasn’t much to look at. Yet there were some who realized that I was also divine. I said they were blessed because flesh and blood had not revealed this to them. Much time has passed since then, and you grew up being instructed that I am divine. Do you need a revelation to know that I am also fully human? 

How did you choose the church you currently attend? Was it on the basis of family tradition? This is unlikely for new converts and many established believers move out to find faith traditions of their own. Did you study the doctrinal works of the founders of the churches available to you and make an informed selection on this basis? That would be extremely rare, particularly for new converts. Then do you go where you first felt a sense of love, acceptance, and belonging? If this was the dominant factor for you then you may expect that it will be true for others as well and extend it to those who are looking for a church. 

Where do you find spiritual life? Do you assume that church is the primary or only place for spiritual encounter? It is one way but not the only way. Do you believe that everyone is made in my image? If so then you can have a spiritual encounter with every person you meet, but this is not automatic. You need to be aware of the leading of the Spirit, and foster and cultivate spiritual encounters. I want this to be the hunger of your heart, and for you to be as aware of my presence at all times as you are in church. If this is what you seek then you have my promise that you will find spiritual life everywhere you go. 

Do you value your freedom? This is a normal human longing and my word tells you to stand fast in the liberty in which Christ has made you free. Do you feel sympathy for those in prison, or bound by addictions or limitations? Liberty has many dimensions of which the ability to move about at will is only one. It may be the most obvious but least important. Paul lost this form of liberty when he was in prison, but it was there that he wrote much of the New Testament. Do you understand that there is a spiritual liberty always available to you regardless of life circumstances or any other limitations? Stand fast in this liberty.

I didn’t die so you could go to church. I gave my life that you may have life that is eternal and abundant and true. Church is a part of that life but it is not the whole part. I invite you into a continual engagement with the divine mystery. It fills the entire heavens and earth and influences every aspect of your life. I am not hostile to the church that I built and I don’t want you to be either. I do want you to have a true perspective on its purpose. Don’t look at it as a source of life, but rather as a place where you can join together to share and celebrate the overflow of life that you live every day.