Dale Cresap's blog

Do you normally think of a journey as a round trip, departing from home and returning there? If you change your permanent residence from one place to another you call it a move. Yet in a spiritual sense your journey with me is a one way trip. Do you find this unsettling, to know that you are passing this way but once, and will not return to those familiar things from the past? Do you recall my promise that I was going away to prepare a place for you, and would come back to receive you to myself? Those who have hope in the land of promise are willing to leave behind things that are familiar but inferior that they may press on to better things not yet revealed. 

Do you prefer conversation or dialogue? You may consider these terms to be synonymous, but conversation can be light and superficial or while dialogue implies a deeper level of engagement. You can control a conversation and steer it in the way you want to go, but a dialogue has a life of its own that neither party has control of and to truly engage in it you must be willing to go where it leads, even in unexpected directions. Is this a scary prospect? Yet it is the way to explore new ground and grow, and those who value it will seek out others who also want to engage in it. Come and let us reason together. 

Do you enjoy travel for the sake of travel? I have called you to follow me, and so you are. I want you to enjoy the journey, but also to realize that it has a destination. For I have told you to seek my Kingdom which is above, a city whose builder and maker is God. So you are traveling and looking for something at the same time. As a result you appear to others to be on a wandering path. Yet I see the same path as the strait and narrow way that leads to life. Others may be on a path where the shortest distance is a straight line.

Do you take doctrine seriously and study my word to be sure your understanding of it is correct? It is commendable to seek the truth and rightly divide my word. Yet honest believers reading the same Bible can disagree on minor issues. Another possible approach is to walk with me and lead a Christian life, and apply my word to the situations you encounter. This more difficult path will probably lead you to fewer doctrinal questions. How many situations do you encounter in life that require a nuanced response depending on whether you are, for instance, Calvinist or Armenian?  Doctrine shouldn’t be a strictly academic exercise. If you continue in my word you shall know the truth and be free. 

Have you received training in a method for sharing your faith? Most systematic approaches involve a presentation like a sales pitch. Yet most Christians use my encounter with a woman at a well as the best example of witnessing. This could be more accurately described as a conversation. What about you? Are you more eager to engage in a conversation or listen to a sales pitch? You can safely assume that others feel the same way. This leads to an informal dialogue rather than a structured presentation. Can you relay the essence of the gospel message in such a setting? You can if you trust me to be present and guide your conversation. 

Are you familiar with my promise that I will give you the desires of your heart? Do you understand that this is an ambiguous statement? How does it read to you? Do you think it means that everything you want will be fulfilled? Or that the desires themselves will be imparted by me? Which do you prefer? Most people like the first sense, because they want what they want. Yet those who have their hearts set on me and my Kingdom understand the greater value of the second meaning, for their greatest desire is to be transformed into my likeness, and they shall have the fulfillment of this promise in both ways. 

How many people have you met who say that they received salvation at a certain age and it wasn’t until later that they made me Lord of their lives? Perhaps you have said the same thing yourself. This reflects a lack of understanding. I am Lord of all I create, and this includes you, even prior to your salvation experience. Refer to the illustration I give in my word of the potter and the clay. The potter is able to do as he pleases with the clay. If you recall from the story there was a pot that was marred, and the potter refashioned it into something beautiful. This illustrates the work of redemption I do in your life. 

Do you think that I came to improve your life? That is, do you think I came to give you better versions of the car, dwelling, and clothes you already have? These are the things that the gentiles seek after, and I know that you have need of them, but my direction to you is to seek first the Kingdom of God. I came to give you new life. Do you understand that this is better than your old life with better stuff? How many believers would be content with that? Yet my word teaches you to seek those things above, where I sit at the right hand of God. This is available to all my children, and this world has nothing to offer to compare to it. 

Have you heard it said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions? What statement could be more cynical? You live in a culture that values success and performance. Good intentions are not enough. Yet don’t you find it easier to judge others by their performance and yourself by your intentions? But other people judge you by your performance. But it is my judgment of you that really matters. Which of these approaches is described in my word? Can you see that performance judgment is similar to righteousness by works and intention judgment is similar to grace? I give you more credit for your intentions than other people do. 

Do you reject books if you don’t agree with the author on every point? Do you do the same thing with people? This narrow and exclusive view will lead you to reject the truth for the things they say that are true are not diminished by the things that are not. You are to judge all things and hold fast that which is good. This can be accomplished at a fine level of detail and every precept should stand or fall on its own merit. What about you? If your current understanding of the truth were complete you wouldn’t need to read and study. Be gracious enough to know that others also know in part.