Dale Cresap's blog

Are you holy? Is it easier to think of yourself this way if you consider yourself in an individualistic and isolated way? Yet that is not the way you live. For you live in a community and the more you identify with common humanity the more substance there will be to your righteousness. How are those who regard themselves as holy in their isolation seen by those who observe them? Aren’t they regarded as alienated and therefore less holy rather than more so? When you interact with people your fears, insecurities, and vulnerability will collide with theirs.

Do you see a linkage between psychology and theology? One is the study of human interaction and the other is study of human interaction with God. Could these be related? Could they be the same thing? Consider some content from the Bible that supports this. How can a man say that he loves God whom he cannot see if he cannot love his brother whom he can see? And when did we see you hungry and thirsty and naked and sick and in prison? Verily I say that inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me.

Are you bored? Do you find some things to be boring and others to be fascinating? Do you think that these are inherent properties in the things you observe, or does your response depend on you? There is a difference between saying, ‘this is boring’, and saying, ‘I’m bored’. The first is a judgment and the second is an admission that the problem may be you even if you don’t see it that way. What is your view of reality? Do you understand that every time you open your eyes you see something that I made and every person you meet is created in my image?

Have you ever defied authority? Was this a righteous act or not? When the apostles were reprimanded for proclaiming the gospel, they said, should we obey you or obey God? This was an act of righteous resistance, but how much defiance of authority is of this type and how much is just ordinary rebellion? It is easy to judge your own motives favorably rather than objectively. Do not confuse your own comfort and preferences with the cause of righteousness.

Do you ever act in such a way that doesn’t reflect your true feelings? If your boss wants to tell you about his vacation and it is something you have no interest in, do you tell him he is boring and walk away? In that case your true feelings would not align with your best interests. You know very well that your future depends on your boss having a favorable impression of you. And aren’t you suppressing your true feelings to be more gracious? Is this an acknowledgment that you true feelings are ungracious? Can you extend this principle beyond your boss?

Do you want to learn and grow? Do you like the comfort of being reassured that your current understanding is correct? Do you see the conflict between these positions? If you would be teachable then you must admit that you still have things to learn. Can you recognize that the things you already know may interfere with the things you have yet to learn? Do you see the process of learning as building a structure with more stones placed on stones previously placed, reaching higher and higher? Has it occurred to you that you might have to go back and remove some stones previously placed?

If the church were a business, what product would it be selling? The forgiveness of sins? Businesses need customers. Is there enough demand for this to keep the church in business? Have you found that believers, who are already forgiven, take sin seriously, and unbelievers, who are not, do not? So you have something they need and they don’t know it. How do you go about giving something to someone who doesn’t want it? Better advertising and marketing? You have the message of life. How can you present it so that it resonates with your audience to satisfy a need they are aware of?

Does your church teach that family is paramount importance and worth every sacrifice? I didn’t teach this. I said that because of me one family member would be set against another, and that a man’s enemies would be of his own household. I also said that my brothers were not flesh and blood relatives, but those who did the will of God. Blessed are you if you have close, loving relationships with your relatives, but you have no guarantee that this will be the case. Even the Bible provides counterexamples. Blood may be thicker than water, but Spirit is thicker still.

The last promise of the Old Testament was that I would send Elijah, so when a prophet appeared it made sense for the people to ask John the Baptist if he was Elijah. He said he was not, but I said he was. Although his name was not Elijah he came to fulfill the role and this was before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. The implication was that every generation needs someone to act as Elijah and John the Baptist did this in his own time.

I taught you to love your enemies. I actually taught you to love everyone, but loving your enemies may be the most severe test of this general principle. If you can love your enemies you can love anyone, but this is indeed difficult. How can you go about it? You can’t love from a distance by well-wishing, so you need to approach and engage those with whom you disagree.