Dale Cresap's blog

Are you curious about how things work? Do you wonder about cause and effect? When presented with a new situation do you try to find an explanation for it? A given situation may have multiple plausible explanations, some of which are natural and some are supernatural. Do you assume that only one can be true? Do you prefer natural explanations if one is available? This reflects an anti-supernatural bias and there is nothing irrational in thinking that a given effect can be the result of a combination of causes. I created the natural world. I continue to be present and intervene in its operation. 

Did it cost you a lot to raise your kids? Parents make the choice to start a family and the cost of this is great. Children generally have no awareness of the cost involved. They take it for granted that their parents will provide for them. Do you ever wonder if it is costing me a lot to raise you? You may argue that the costs are irrelevant since my resources are unlimited, but the costs are still real. Parents don’t know in advance what the cost will be but they are encouraged to save for their children’s education. I counted the cost in advance for your education and have the funds in place to finish it. 

My word invites you to taste and see that I am good. Do you see how this implies an intimate relationship? The primary senses that you rely on for most of your information are sight and hearing. These have the advantage that they work at a distance, allowing you to gain information without having to come into direct contact. Taste is the most intimate of all the senses, for you not only have to come in contact, but whatever you perceive must be in your mouth. I deliberately chose this closest encounter to describe the relationship I want with you. I want you to know my goodness from firsthand experience. 

Is it possible that one could be blind and not know it? Yet the Pharisees asked me if they were blind also, and the answer was yes. What about hunger? Is it possible to be hungry and not know it? Everyone is created in my image, and is therefore a spiritual being. This carries with it a hunger to return and connect with your source, and this applies to all, believer and unbeliever alike. Unbelievers don’t know what to call this, and you see some peculiar and distorted attempts to fill the spiritual vacuum. So you can be hungry and not know it. You are in a position to identify this hunger and bring them to the one who can fill it. Blessed are those who hunger after righteousness, for they shall be filled. 

I promised you a life of abundance. That doesn’t necessarily mean an abundance of money although I will meet your needs. It does mean an abundance of opportunity and experience. Does this sound like a life of routine or not? Yet all lives are a combination of the routine and the new. It isn’t a matter of eliminating all routine from your life, but choosing those routine activities that are life-giving. Routines can become stale and you can go through the motions without gaining any benefit. Choose spiritual routines and practice them with intentional engagement and they will be as nourishing to you as daily bread. 

How old is the earth, and for that matter the universe? You get a wide variety of answers depending on whom you ask. A strict reading of the Bible suggests thousands or tens of thousands of years. Most people you meet will say millions or billions. Is this a battle you need to fight? This isn’t a point of doctrine as doctrine is properly understood, and the Bible itself doesn’t have a chapter and verse giving the age of the earth. If it was important I would have told you. In your presentation of the good news of the Kingdom of God, keep the focus on me and my identity. Don’t make it easy for your audience to dismiss you for secondary reasons. 

Do you ever berate yourself in your internal dialogue for your faults and mistakes with statements such as, how could you have been so stupid? Do you make the same comments to your friends about their mistakes? You understand the importance of being gracious and accepting toward other people. Do you understand the same principle with regard to yourself? You know that other people have their limitations. It would be an expression of pride to assume that you don’t have any of your own. You should not dismiss your shortcomings, but neither should you be surprised or devastated by them. If you can be gracious as a friend to others, be gracious as a friend to yourself. 

Do you live by a rule of life? This term is used in some traditions to refer to spiritual habits and practices taken on by an individual for their own growth and development. Your church may not refer to these practices by the same terms, but the concept is still valid by another name, or none at all. Daily devotions or regular practices weekly, yearly or at other intervals are beneficial habits that can take many forms. Some common types have an established record and have helped many people, but no single program is right for everyone. Seek me and I will show you the one that is right for you.

You know intuitively that fear is bad and you have support for this in scripture. Have you seen bumper stickers saying ‘No Fear’? It is easy to put on a bumper sticker. Do you think that those who do so have been tested so they can speak this from experience? Do you think they understand that it is perfect love that casts out fear? This isn’t something that can be known second hand or by abstraction. My apostles understood this because of their direct experience with perfect love. They proclaimed the gospel without fear even though they knew they were risking their lives and most lost them. Those who are perfected in love, love not their lives to the death. 

Do you believe in the principle of giving credit where it is due? Do you understand that it is all due to me? My word poses the question, what do you have that you did not receive, and the implied answer is nothing. My apostles worked miracles and those who saw them wanted to honor them as gods. They insisted that they were just men and protested to the point of rending their garments. If you understand that you can of yourself do nothing, then how do you confer the honor on me with true rather than false modesty? If you are led by the Spirit to do the works, then the same leading will show you how to transfer the glory to me. The job isn’t done until then.