Dale Cresap's blog

Do you have a zeal for the truth? This sounds like a desirable virtue, but how do you distinguish it from a zeal for proving yourself right? Other people can make this distinction about you much easier than you can about yourself. Let your search and zeal for correctness begin within yourself. Search and try your ways and turn again to me. So let a man examine himself. Judge yourself that you may not be judged. Be zealous enough for the truth to let it begin with you. Do the deep spirit and soul work to have truth in your inward parts and you will be in a position to speak the truth in love to others. 

You live in a culture of abundance. This gives you a bias in favor of always wanting more and better things and you find support for this in the Bible. Yet the Bible also teaches contentment and even that you should lay down your life and decrease that I may increase. Is it possible that too much emphasis on the first point could interfere with your spiritual maturity? For the second part is also necessary for your spiritual growth. In some ways you already have too much. The release of these things is just as important as the acquisition of better things. Come to me and die that you may live. 

Do you know that you should desire to do my will but have some uneasy concerns that I will ask you to do something difficult and unpleasant? I created you with intent, and you are fearfully and wonderfully made. I created you for a purpose, and you are custom built to perform it. The calling I have for you that is my will for you is perfectly suited for the way I made you. Don’t you find joy and satisfaction in performing tasks that are perfectly consistent with the essence of your being? Don’t be envious of those who make more money for less work. They have their own path to walk. You will find true joy and satisfaction on the path I have set before you. 

Do you think of your vocation as the way you earn money? This is commonly accepted usage for something that is also called a career, but in earlier times it had a different meaning. Vocation was considered another term for calling, as in the ministry that was your unique assignment. For some people these are one and the same but this is not true for everyone. Do you think of your career as your primary identity? These can change with time and circumstances and the state of the economy. If you have a strong sense of calling you should think of your vocation as a more accurate indicator of your true identity and it should be more stable and enduring. If you don’t have a strong sense of your vocation ask of me and I will show it to you. 

Do you have pet peeves, little things that other people do that you find more annoying than the intent and level of offense would suggest? Other people may do these things without any intent or even awareness that it bothers you. Rather than trying to make them stop you should ask yourself why it is such a problem for you. The harmless actions of others can reveal areas in you that are not fully surrendered to me; where you reserve the right to make unrighteous judgments. Let these responses prompt you to examine yourself rather than others that you may decrease and I may increase in the transformation of you into my likeness.

The essence of worship is attributing and expressing the worthiness of the one you worship. Your faith teaches you that I alone am worthy of worship. Are there no others that are worthy? In a lesser sense you can affirm your friends and recognize others that you admire. But worship refers to a greater sense and an ultimate reality. In this realm the creator is greater than the creature, and the creatures have nothing that they did not receive from above. Therefore they should receive their honors in humility and gratitude, acknowledging their source, and true worship in spirit and in truth is reserved for the One who is ultimately worthy. 

Have you ever contended with atheists or been frustrated with their questions about the origin and age of the earth? You could reply with some questions of your own, even as I posed some questions in my encounter with Job. I asked him where he was when I created the world and he had no answer. If you don’t know how the world came into being, how can you speculate on how long it took? Scientists are not as equipped to respond to this question as you might think. Don’t be intimidated by unbelievers. They have questions but no answers. I can give you questions for them that will expose their deficits and their need for redemption. 

You are familiar with the Great Commission as the commandment to go and preach the good news of the gospel to every creature. Note that your duty in this is to present the message and it is up to your audience to respond or not. Yet I also taught you to go and make disciples of all men. Note that this is a big job of which evangelism is only a part, so even though you rejoice when your audience responds to your message, your work is not finished then. You are able to teach what you know. Let your goal be to teach others who are willing to learn what you have learned from me. 

Hypocrite is a Biblical term for people who do not practice what they preach. Unbelievers are eager to examine the lives of Christians and apply this term to them if they are able. Can this concept be applied more broadly? What about atheists? They say I do not exist, but how many atheists do you know who live their lives that way and how many live with a sense of decency, justice, and kindness? If they practice righteousness that they don’t proclaim does that make them hypocrites? Even atheists are made in my image and have my laws in their hearts. Blessed are those who preach and practice righteousness for the right reasons. 

Do you think of a doorman as a high status job? David said he would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. So the status of a doorkeeper depends on the doors he keeps. I no longer inhabit the works of men’s hands but I do have a temple on the earth of my own making and it is you. My word teaches that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and you would do well to regard it accordingly. I have assigned you to be the doorkeeper of your own temple, admitting those things that are pure and lovely and righteous, and refusing entry to any evil influence.