Dale Cresap's blog

Do you notice that everyone at some point needs extra consideration and special treatment? Everyone has at least their own hour of need. You have been in this position yourself. Do you notice that some people need extra consideration at all times? There are those with obvious physical disabilities and those emotional and personality disabilities that are less obvious but just as real. I put them among you for a reason. When you encounter them remember that at one time you also needed special treatment. Condescend to those of low estate and remember that the gospel is for those who need a physician, like yourself. 

Have you ever lost touch with old friends and drifted apart from them? In some cases you have both moved on to other phases of your life, but in others there is a real sense of loss. You expect friendships to be enduring, but there is an inherently transient quality to life. To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven. Learn to expect this, and live in the present, enjoying your current situation and experiencing it fully while it lasts. I have called you to follow me in a journey and this implies change and a progression of events and circumstances. The one constant on this sojourn is that you are travelling beside me. 

Do you look around in church and see people with issues? You have them too. My word teaches the development of virtue and character, yet this is a process that takes time. You see people who are poor examples of Christlikeness. Yet to compare them to others is the wrong approach. The real question is where would they be without my influence in their lives? For I am not a bad influence on anyone. I delight in seeking out the lost, the lowest, those with the greatest defects and needs. I redeem and transform those who have been rejected by everyone else that I may be glorified. 

The Bible gives you direction for removing a heretic from your midst after you have exhausted the process of correcting him. This is an extreme step. It also gives direction for redemption and restoration. You are to forgive those who repent and restore those who oppose themselves in a spirit of meekness. You are to seek and save the lost sheep and rejoice when they are returned to the fold. Which approach do you prefer to take? Your heart will lead you one way or the other. My word addresses both subjects, but it places much more emphasis on redemption. I had to correct my own disciples who wanted to call down fire from heaven on their enemies. Do justice out of necessity, but love mercy and you will be an agent of mercy.

Have you ever been pressured into doing something you didn’t want to do? It may have been something required of you by someone in authority over you. I ordain those authorities, but I do not allow them to require you to do evil. What is your attitude toward authority? You know that rebellion is wrong, but so is subservience. No one else can take responsibility for your actions. There may be unpleasant consequences for you if you refuse to comply out of the conviction of your conscience, but if you are truly doing this out of obedience to me I will back you. Keep your conscience active and engaged and remember that your first loyalty is to me.

Are you able to discipline yourself in areas of your life in which performance is important to you? For some people this involves health and fitness. For more people it involves a career, and there are some who are more diligent about their recreational activities than they are their careers. How important is performance in your spiritual life to you that you would subject yourself to spiritual disciplines? A soldier narrows his focus to ignore superfluous things and disciplines himself that he may perform well as a soldier and please his commander. I have called you as a solider in my service. You will find spiritual disciplines to be more beneficial than any others you practice. 

Do you see positive qualities in other people and think that serves as a basis for loving them? Don’t confuse love and admiration. What about people in whom you can identify no virtues? Yet I have called you to love them as well as the righteous, even as I do. You describe my love as unconditional and you are right. My love is limitless and unfathomable and not based on your behavior or performance. I have called you to follow me. This mindset does not come naturally for you and is only available through your transformation into the likeness of the one who loved you enough to die for you while you were a sinner. 

Do you think that a curse is a formal invocation of a pagan god such as Baal or Dagon, or even of me? Do you think that curses must involve the word ‘curse’, or profanity or vulgarity? Let no unwholesome communication proceed from your mouth or from your heart. Do you make pronouncements of discouragement or despair regarding yourself or others? Do you affirm the inevitability of bad situations, declaring that they will never change? In the larger sense that really matters these too are curses and you will eat the fruit of the words of your mouth for better or worse. Speak the truth of my word and redemptive power and you will see it come to pass. 

Have you ever had your dreams die? Perhaps you wanted something badly, and even thought that I was promising it to you. You may be right about that, even if it slipped away or never materialized. If I promised it or put it in your heart I can give it back. The death of a dream can be a part of the process of fulfillment. I promised Isaac to Abraham and then required him to be given back again. The story had a happy ending as you know, but this event made me central in the lives of both of them. It will do the same for you. Your circumstances may not be as extreme but the same principle applies. I may require you to lay down the things I give you even if I give them back.