Dale Cresap's blog

Have you ever asked me to be present with you during a time of special need? Were you pleased that I responded? Yet you hold the idea of my omnipresence as a theological doctrine, and you have my promise that I am with you always, even unto the end of the age. What changes when you ask me to be with you? It is just your awareness of me, but don’t dismiss this lightly. For knowing that I am with you changes you. For my Word says that you are changed into my likeness from one degree of glory to another, but this occurs as you behold me. I want you to engage with the transformational process of intentional awareness of my presence with you. 

Are you concerned about the absolute accuracy of scripture? Are you equally concerned that it be vivid and alive to you? My word tells a story about the multiplication of loaves and fishes. These were the common menu items of the time. Perhaps you are more familiar with burgers and buns. You have my permission to think in these terms if it will increase the impact my word has in your life. You even have my permission to use your imagination to place yourself in Bible scenes if you can do so without compromising the intent of the word. I leave the door wide open for you to make the Bible real to you and incorporate it in your life. 

Do you assume that I love you when you do right and am angry with you when you do wrong? I tell you that I love you at all times. Bad parents make their love conditional and offer or withhold it based on behavior and performance. Good parents want their children to make life-affirming choices, but love them whether they do or not. If the best of parents can do this can you accept that I do because I am better than the best of parents? You have my promise that neither life nor death nor principalities nor powers nor any created thing can separate you from my love, not even you. 

Do you recognize how deeply you are influenced by your culture? You may think that your perspective is entirely based on my Word and my Kingdom, but you are nonetheless a product of your culture as well. I have other sheep who are not of this fold. I have believers in other nations and cultures. They too are part of my one body, but they come to it from a different direction than you do. It is beneficial for you to seek them out that you may learn from them. It is good for you to have some of your unexamined assumptions challenged and your thoughts provoked to increase your understanding and achieve unity in my body. 

Do you let strangers or enemies live in your house? Aren’t you particular about whom you allow inside your home? Yet do you ever let such people live inside your head? You should be even more careful about this. Negative interactions with other people can haunt you long after the original offense. The other person may have forgotten about it even if they noticed it in the first place, but it can be a source of ongoing distress for you. Your mind should be an inner sanctuary of peace. Do you find it difficult to evict the intruders? I understand this and if you seek my assistance I will send them away. 

I used manna to provide for my people and also illustrate the need for regular spiritual nourishment. Manna was a daily provision that could not be preserved but there is another provision that is even more immediate. You receive oxygen in every breath. Can you store up air for future use? I breathed life into you to make you alive and breath is a Biblical image of spirit. Manna illustrates a daily need for me. Are you willing to extend this concept to every moment? For I am as close to you as your very breath and in me you live and move and have your being. 

Do you think of honesty in terms of not telling lies to other people? It includes this, but in my Sermon on the Mount I expanded the definitions of various moral concepts such as hatred and lust. Honesty could be treated in a similar way. Have you known people who were living a lie even if they wouldn’t tell a lie? Have you known people who were not honest with themselves? People have a great capacity for self-deception. Let honesty begin by being honest with yourself that you may have truth in your inward parts from which you can speak and live truth to your neighbor. 

Have you ever weeded a lawn or garden? The easy way is to cut the weeds off at ground level but you know that the remaining root will quickly produce new leaves and stems and blossoms. They way to get rid of weeds permanently is to remove them roots and all. This is more work, but it is effective. Do you have any weeds in your life such as bad habits or besetting sins? There are superficial ways of dealing with these as well and they are about as effective. My desire for you is for inward and outward purity. I do not pretend that the process is easy but it is the only way that you may live a life of transparency and authenticity, with your eye single and your whole body full of light. 

Do you encounter unbelievers who seem to have the same peace, kindness, and gentleness of spirit as believers? You know that the gospel is true so do you think that those who follow it should lead better lives and display better character than those who don’t? Yet doesn’t everyone seem gracious when they get their own way? Even sinners are kind to those who are kind to them. You are called to a higher standard. The real test of your character is the way you respond when things don’t go your way and to those who are mean to you. Love your enemies and your light that shines before men is more apparent when it is surrounded by darkness. 

Do you understand the importance of the Bible to the Christian life? When you read it what do you find? It contains stories about people who encountered me in their lives. Are you content to read their stories? You consider my word to have supreme authority in doctrine and the practice of faith; the standard by which all others are judged, and you are right, but you shouldn’t be content with reading the stories of other people. For my word is a call to action, not just to study, but to respond to and act on. Search the scriptures and see that they testify of me. Come to me and encounter me yourself that you may have life.