Dale Cresap's blog

If you have gone on a long journey and come home then you know the meaning of a round trip. According to the laws of geometry the distance home is the same as the distance out, although it may seem shorter or longer. Yet there is a case in which this is not true. For no matter how far you wander away from me you are only one step away from returning to me. For though you depart from me I do not depart from you. I promised to be with you always and I will keep covenant even if you don’t. At any time if you turn your attention to me you will find I was with you all along. 

Have you ever heard, to thy own self be true and you cannot be false to anyone? This is usually used as a superficial justification for people going their own way and the Biblical versions of this are there is a way that seem right to a man but the end thereof is death, and everyone did what was right in their own sight. Yet there is a reality to this concept if viewed from first principles. To be true to yourself is to recognize that you are created in the image of God. This is true of atheists even though they are alienated from their source and origin. To really be true to yourself it to be true to me. 

Do you come to me to improve your life? Do you want an improved version of your current life, or a really new and different life? I told my followers that the gentiles sought after things to eat and drink and wear. That list is greatly expanded today but the underlying principle is the same. Would you be content with higher quality versions of provision and health? But the life I offer you is not a better version of what you have. It is new in every way. It is a life in my Kingdom that is not of this world. Don’t be content with better stuff. Seek first my Kingdom which is transcendent and divine, and you will have it. 

In polite conversation people will allow everyone to speak and even to take turns in choosing topics. It is considered rude to dominate a conversation, especially if someone with more knowledge, wisdom, and insight is shut out. Do you apply this rule to your conversations with me? How much of your prayer time is spent in listening as opposed to speaking? I have so much to say, but I will not drown you out, although you can do this to me. Which of us by virtue of wisdom and knowledge should do more of the speaking? I will if you give me the chance. Are you willing to take the next step and let me pick the topics? 

Do you believe in playing it safe? Does that mean that the best alternative is inaction when you are faced with risk and uncertainty? Sometimes you should move forward even when the view ahead is not entirely clear. Consider the parable of the talents. The servants who used their own initiative to multiply their talents were commended. Note that the master gave them no direction in how to proceed. Note also that the story did not end well for the wicked and slothful servant who hid his talent in the earth. I will give you direction in how to multiply your talents for me. Inaction is not the right answer. 

I told Peter that the devil desired to sift him like wheat. I told him that I prayed for him, not that this sifting would not occur, but that his faith would not fail. Why did I not prevent this sifting? I went on to say that when he was converted to strengthen his brethren. This conversion was not referring to salvation, but it implied that the sifting would bring about a change in him that would enable him to minister to others. Have you observed this same principle in operation; that those who have been through it are better equipped to give life to others than those who have not? Do not fear to be sifted yourself. 

Do you know that my gifts are free, and that I give them to everyone? I send rain and sun on the righteous and the wicked alike, and do so freely. If you were inclined to pay for these things, what currency would you use? If not a sparrow falls without my notice how much more will I meet your material needs? Yet I have another category of gifts that doesn’t come automatically and unbidden. I told my followers not to seek the things the gentiles seek but to seek first the Kingdom of God. The gifts of the Kingdom are also free but they do not come unless you seek them. If you do you will have them and all else besides. 

Have you heard some people criticize economic systems in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? Does this seem unfair? Yet in a sense that matters more I said that to those who had, more would be given, and to those who had not, what little they had would be taken away. I was referring to spiritual things. Have you attended Christian conferences and seminars that were open to the public and observed that the people who needed them most were not there, while those who were fairly advanced already were? The riches of the Kingdom of God are available to whosoever will come, and those who keep on seeking will keep on finding. 

Do you think of uncommitted time as free time and place a high value on it because you can use it to do whatever you want? Yet no time is really free, for you will fill it with something, even if not very much. A better measure would be to ask yourself if you are filling your time with things of high or low value. Have you ever had some discretionary time available to you and looked back and realized that nothing beneficial happened even if you were able to do whatever you wanted? Are you wary of seeking me about filling hour spare time? If you trust me with this I will fill it with joy. 

Do you want to hear from me? Inner stillness is helpful in this process. How will you hear my voice if your own thoughts form an endless continuous sequence? Yet this is a case where the external precedes the internal. You have at your disposal portable electronic communications devices so that you are never out of contact with your friends and music and all manner of news and information, but I do not call you on your smart phone. In this situation you need to unplug to connect with me. Make the choice to cultivate inner calm as a practice and a habit and you will hear from me more clearly. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.