Dale Cresap's blog

Do you think of reincarnation as a Hindu concept? The term implies death and rebirth in a physical sense. You reject this as being contrary to the Bible and rightly so. Yet the Bible is full of imagery of death and rebirth in a spiritual sense. You are called to lay down your life and pick up your cross and follow me. You are taught to be a living sacrifice and that a grain of wheat must die to bring forth fruit. Baptism is a symbol of death, burial and resurrection. Paul affirmed these concepts when he said that he died daily, but he understood that the death he experienced brought forth life in others. Do you understand this? How are these concepts working in your own life? 

Everyone has an image of themselves. What is the basis for yours? What do you identify with? Do you think that the more things your identity is attached to the better, because it gives you a richer life? There is a downside to this. Your emotional attachments make you vulnerable to manipulation and control from outside influences, and your well-being is a product of things external to you, making you unstable like a double-minded man tossed about by the waves. Your identity should be more stable than that. You can enjoy all these things, but be selective in your emotional investments and choose them wisely. 

In most games a higher score is better. In others, like golf, a lower score is better. You know that sin is bad and you should not practice it. You are not to sin that grace may abound. Having said that, have you noticed that some believers like to keep score, and that a lower sin score is better? This attitude is not a reflection of Kingdom principles. For you have seen those who have a low ‘sin score’ who also seem to have no hunger for righteousness or passion for the Kingdom of God. Those who are aware that they are forgiven much love much, but he who is forgiven little loves little. Love much and don’t keep score of sins. 

Are you able to carry out everything you intend? Most people will acknowledge that they fall short of implementing everything they want to do. I said that the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak. Paul the apostle said that the good that he would do he did not. Yet have you known a few people with an ‘iron will’ who were able to do what they intended? But what sort of person were they? Were they achieving love and righteousness by strength of will? Were they pleasant company? Don’t you find people with an iron will to be difficult, selfish, and stubborn? The stronger your will is more it can take you places you don’t want to go. You enter the Kingdom of God by surrender. 

Do you have an opinion on every subject? This gives the appearance of someone who is thoughtful and well-informed. Your consumer culture is eager to please every taste, so only a modest amount of affluence is necessary to live a moderately self-indulgent life. This give the appearance of abundance, but this is not the abundant life I offer. For I promised this but also taught you to seek those things which are above. This is difficult if you are too attached to the things of this world. If you would walk with me then realize which of the choices you make here have eternal consequences and become indifferent to those which do not. 

Have you ever played hide and seek? This is a game that small children enjoy playing with cooperative adults. It produces an earnest search and finding always brings forth an expression of joyful delight. Does it ever seem that I am playing hide and seek with you? My word says that I hide myself, but also promises that if you seek me you will find me. I do not hide myself from you to frustrate you or put distance between us. I love you and want a deep intimate relationship with you. Can you see that your search for me facilitates this? Consider the joyful delight of the children’s game and compare it to your own experience of finding me. 

Do you partake of every form of entertainment without much consideration of the content, thinking it is harmless because it’s just a story after all? This is an incorrect approach. Stories are not harmless. They have enormous power to influence, for good or for evil. Have you considered that most of my teaching was done with stories? Much of my audience considered them as only that. and missed the deeper meaning, but it was there for those who had ears to hear. Stories can also have evil intent and effect and you should be aware of this. Be careful what you expose yourself to and engage with, for you will be influenced by it whether fiction or non-fiction, for better or worse. 

Do you thank me for the prayers I answer? Do you ever thank me for the prayers I don’t answer? You pray for the things you want and expect answers. Yet have you ever looked back on  a prayer that I appeared not to answer, and realized from the perspective of more time and reflection that it would not have been good for you to have what you requested at the time? If your prayers are uninformed I may have to decide between giving you what you ask for and what is really best for you. Which of these would you prefer? Seek my will and pray according to it to make it easy for me to answer your prayers. 

Do you think of prayer as talking to me? What about me talking to you? You expect to engage in an exchange of conversation with your friends and it is considered rude and a violation of social protocol for one person to dominate a conversation. Yet how many people pray without expecting me to respond or leaving an opportunity of listening in silence for me to do so? How many people engage in prayer speaking to me but think that me speaking to them is a form of mental illness? You describe your faith as a relationship with me and you have my promise that my sheep hear my voice. I also promised that if you seek you will find. This implies that if you listen you will hear from me. 

My Great Commission to you was to preach the gospel to every creature. You may consider this a daunting task but I don’t expect you to do it alone. Do you want to see it fulfilled? Consider the stories I told about the laborers in the vineyard and the prodigal son. Those who labored all day didn’t think the late comers were worthy of a full day’s wages, and the elder brother didn’t think the younger brother’s return was worth celebrating. In both cases these positions did not agree with the true authority. Set aside for a moment the difficulty of the Great Commission and the details of the task. Is it your heart’s desire to see everyone in the Kingdom of God?