Dale Cresap's blog

Have you ever heard Christians lament that they did not live when I lived and have a chance to follow me in that way? Have you ever felt this way yourself? But consider how few understood my identity and followed me during my lifetime. I told even those who did that it was better that I go away, for I would send the Comforter to be with them and in them forever. You may not understand how one thing was contingent on the other, but do you see how you benefit from the same truth? If you truly understand the meaning and implications of indwelling presence you will be glad you live now.

Do you think that you only get angry in response to extreme provocation? Yet do you know people who are habitually angry, whether they are subject to provocation or not? Anger can be an addiction like any other and such people will go looking for offenses to respond to if none come their way unbidden. Is anger a universal experience that none can escape? Perhaps, but my word teaches you to be slow to anger. Even in situations where you can’t avoid being angry it doesn’t have to control you. The things that make you angry and the way you respond and express it display my character in your life.

I told my followers not to seek after the things the gentiles sought after, things to wear and eat and drink, but to seek the Kingdom of God. I gave a few of the things the gentiles seek but the list was not exhaustive. What do people seek today in addition? Perfect bodies that are tall and slender and fit are valued in your culture. There is nothing wrong with a desire to be healthy and to maintain your temple as my residence, but some engage in unhealthy practices for the sake of appearances. You can change your weight but you cannot change your height by worrying about it. Godliness is still more profitable than bodily exercise. 

Have you ever read my response to the question of who is my neighbor and thought, of course he stopped to help, he was a Good Samaritan? This term has become so commonplace that it distorts the meaning of the original passage. For there was enmity between the Jews and Samaritans over doctrinal matters that continues to this day. It was the one outside of true doctrine and practice of faith who stopped to help. To reframe the story and recover the original impact for an audience of modern believers it would be the good gay person or the good atheist. Who is your neighbor? 

Are you familiar with the concept of cross-pollination? This is considered to be a good thing for crops. For the same principle applied to people there are laws to prevent marriages between close relatives because the dangers of inbreeding are well known. There are no laws against spiritual inbreeding, but if you understand the dangers you will avoid this as well. If you have fellowship only within a small circle of like-minded believers you face the risk of narrow vision and a limited view of me. I want you to be open to truth outside of your tradition. You too will benefit from cross-pollination. 

Have you noticed that I spoke in mysterious paradoxes? I claimed to be living bread and living water and even said that you must eat my flesh and drink my blood to have life. These things are not given much emphasis today, and theologians take on the task of providing explanations for these difficult passages to make them easy. But if I wanted to make them easy I would have done so myself and stated them differently. They do not lend themselves to easy answers but they are still the words of life as they are stated. If you continue in my word and engage these questions you shall have life and be free indeed. 

Have you heard the saying that seeing is believing? It is hard to dispute visual evidence, but have you not seen video clips that show things that didn’t really happen? Camera tricks and editing techniques allow the creation of false images so you can’t always believe what you see. I spoke to the issue of seeing and believing with my own disciple Thomas. He wouldn’t believe until he saw and felt me, but then he did. I did not condemn him for this, but said that those who had not seen and yet had believed were blessed for this. The uncertainty of visual images today reinforces that believing is stronger than seeing. 

You live in a world of commerce and economics and you are used to the idea that everything has a price tag. Yet not everything has a price. You get a sunrise and sunset every day, and live in a world of beauty that I made for you. So value is a more universal concept than cost. Things with cost have value, but so do things that that do not have a cost. It is mercenary to value things according to their cost alone. Do you think of yourself as affluent? It will enrich your experience of life if you value things according to their value. It is my good pleasure to give you my Kingdom and if you understand this you will know that you are rich. 

Depending on your upbringing, you may have thought that your church did things the only right way. As you grew in spiritual maturity and encountered other churches you may have thought that your church still did things the best way. Are you willing to take another step of spiritual maturity and realize that your church does things one way without assigning ranks of better and worse? My word teaches you that when you take communion you are to discern My Body, and this will help you to see my Body as a single entity. Do you believe that there is one true church? You are right, but it is mine rather than yours. 

My disciples asked me to teach them to pray, and I did. The prayer I gave them starts with “Our Father”, and you have prayed this way ever since. Do you ever wonder why it starts with Our Father rather than My Father? For you pray the same way whether you are with a group of people or by yourself. Properly understood, Our Father reminds you that you do not pray in isolation even when you are alone. I am with you always, and your prayer should be in the context not only of my presence with you, but also of you in connection with the rest of humanity of whom I am also Father.