Dale Cresap's blog

I told my disciples that the gentiles loved to exercise authority over one another and status was measured by position in the hierarchy. Do you find that the same principle is in effect today, but there is another dimension as well, that your culture keeps score by money? People are referred to as millionaires or billionaires as if that were the only measure of worth. But I told my disciples that it would not be so among them and that they should serve rather than seeking to dominate others. Can you apply the same principle to money?

Do you take the sacraments? What is your view of them? They are described as outward symbols of inward graces. They are the means by which something that is visible in the material world is connected to the invisible transcendent realm. Is this the way you view them and experience them? For it is possible to go through the motions without awareness of the spiritual reality. Yet the benefit of the practice lies in comprehending the connection between the realms. If you do not close a door for no reason, then neither should you kindle a fire on my altar or take sacraments for no reason.

You live in a world of commerce, so you expect to pay for the things you want and need, and the range of things available to you for a price is astounding. Yet it is conventional wisdom even for those outside of the church that one thing you cannot buy is love. Have you ever given a substantial amount of money to a friend or family member and found that it didn’t change the basis of the relationship at all? Was this discouraging? But reversing the perspective to those who do not have much money to give, it may be encouraging to know that the lack will not prevent their access to love.

Do you have confidence? Do you have humility? Do you think these are both desirable, but see a conflict between them? Is there a way to have confidence to move ahead, and still operate in humility? The real opposite of humility isn’t confidence, but arrogance. Humility is being modest about your own abilities. The effect of confidence depends on what you place your confidence in.

Have you ever been overcome by your misfortunes and asked me why they happened? Do you normally reserve this question for extreme situations, such as the loss of a loved one, or a failed marriage, or bankruptcy or unemployment? Are these honest inquiries or veiled challenges to my love for you? Have you ever reversed the question and considered that you are no better than those who have gone before, so why should you live in a time of peace and prosperity, with an education and information available to you, with a reasonable expectation of a long and healthy life?

Have you ever asked me why? You can ask for specific guidance and get it, and you can ask and receive, but questions beginning with ‘why’ are at another level. They involve insights into my ways and purposes. My ways are higher than yours, and my thoughts than yours. Are you able to comprehend them? Yet this is possible since I showed my acts to the children of Israel, but my ways unto Moses. This isn’t just a matter of transmitting information. It requires a depth of relationship and a depth of transformation on your part that is able to bear it.

Do you want good guidance and counsel? Do you pray for these things? Have you ever had someone you know come up with a bad answer for a situation and stick with it because they had prayed about it? Are you able to avoid this condition in your own life? Praying about something doesn’t release you from the need for counsel and accountability. Don’t you want as many sources of wisdom as you can get for difficult things that affect your life? For you can be wrong in what you think I say, or more likely, interpreting it incorrectly.

Do you know where you are going? Are you following me? If you are following me, and you don’t know where I am going, then you don’t know where you are going. Could you have predicted the path your journey would take from the time you started to follow me until now? Do you usually set out on a long journey without knowing where you are going? Yet you made an exception in this case. This is an expression of trust. You have gone places with knowledgeable friends trusting them to handle the details of the trip.

Are you familiar with the story of my disciples being rebuked for plucking grains and eating them on the Sabbath while we were walking on our way? This is a lesser known passage of scripture because modern believers are less concerned about keeping the Sabbath and don’t harvest grain to eat while they walk from one place to another. But there is a larger underlying theme emerging from the details of this story. Can you see it? Can you see the principle and apply it to actual situations that you face in your own life? What other Bible stories have lessons that apply to your real life?

If you were asked about your spirituality, what would you say? Would you respond with the name of a faith tradition or a denomination? Would you recite a list of doctrinal positions? Would you describe practices such as church attendance, bible study, and prayer? What other possibilities are there? Is your spirituality what you profess or what you live? The Bible declares that the son who worked in his father’s vineyard after saying he would not did the will of his father rather than the one who said he would but didn’t. Are you letting your light shine to glorify me?