Dale Cresap's blog

Do you know that broccoli is good for you? Do you eat it? You can make a diligent study of the beneficial effects of broccoli but that doesn’t help unless and until you actually eat it. In like manner you will obtain the same benefit from eating broccoli as the one who is knowledgeable, even if you are totally uninformed. Blessed are those who keep my commandments. Some will make diligent study of them and yet not apply them. Others will follow them intuitively, as though they were written on their hearts. These are not the only categories, but they provide a contrast for illustration. Like eating broccoli, my commandments only benefit you if you follow them. 

Have you ever received a gift of low value; something that was given to you because the owner had no further use for it? This is hardly a gesture of thoughtfulness or generosity. You may have wished that they threw their discards away rather than giving them to you. Beware that you do not do this to others. What sort of gifts do you receive from me? The question of cost and sacrifice may not be directly comparable to those who are on a budget, but I gave you one gift of incomparable sacrifice. The other things I give you are not discards. They are thoughtful beyond your ability to comprehend. They are uniquely crafted for you by the one who made you and knows you better than you know yourself.

You know that all persons have sinned and fallen short of my glory. This condition is scalable to all human institutions. If there are no perfect persons, then there are no perfect families, churches, or governments. Do you see this as readily apparent with regard to governments? It applies at all stages in between. Therefore you can cease your search for a perfect family or church, or the comparison of yours to others. Yet this is not a cause for cynicism, condemnation, or unrighteous judgment. For these are institutions that I have created and use for my purposes in this world in spite of their flaws, even as I use individuals such as yourself in spite of yours.

Have you ever compared your co-workers on your job with your fellow believers in church? How do they compare? You would expect the co-workers to have an advantage because they went through a selection process to be hired and must meet performance goals to remain employed. The church is open to whosoever will come, and has no such requirements. Do the results look like what you would expect? Yet there is a divine mystery in the makeup of my church. For I do more than assemble a workforce. I am fitting members into a body, and not just any body. It is my own body. Keep this in mind when you look around at church.

What is a church? You may refer to a building as a church but you know that it is really comprised of people. Yet not just any group of people is a church. Those who gather together to watch the same thing are spectators. Those who gather together to work together are a team, and every church should be a team, but not every team is a church. It is not enough to be in agreement on doctrine and practice for you can have this and still be effectively isolated from each other. I have called my church a body, with me as the head. The members of a body are so involved with each other that they share a common life. This is what makes a church. 

Do you think of a white flag as a flag of surrender? It would be more accurately described as a flag of truce. It is universally recognized as a declaration of a suspension of hostilities to discuss terms of peace. It would be a violation to act in a threatening manner under such a flag. Can you see the advantages of conducting yourself in this manner at all times? You don’t have to carry a white flag, but you can refuse to be hostile or threatening even to those you disagree with. You can be open to civil discussion and eager to find ways to be reconciled to your brother. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are my children. 

Have you ever been rejected for your faith by those closest to you, or had them reject the work I am doing in you? The same thing happened to me, and I said that a prophet is not without honor, except among his own people. If this happened to me then how much more should you expect the same thing, even though this is the most painful rejection of all? Does it occur to you that this can work both ways? Are you willing to accept my work in those close to you? Are you willing to receive ministry from your children and brothers and sisters even though you saw them growing up? Can you acknowledge the work I have done in them? 

Do you understand that joy is an imperative for believers? Some will attempt to excuse themselves by saying that their joy is a deep internal thing. Is it possible to be joyful without smiling? If you are the only person who thinks you are joyful then perhaps you are only fooling yourself. You are called to let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify me. The expression on your face is the first manifestation of my presence in you that others will encounter. Let it be a continuous testimony to my goodness and the extent of my redemptive work in you. 

Do you like people who make you laugh? Do you think of them as doing ministry for you? Some humor is crude and vulgar but there is an innocent form that is beneficial for you and you instinctively seek out funny people because you value this. A merry heart does good like a medicine and this has been verified by medical science. It is unhealthy for you to be grim and humorless and take yourself too seriously. In this sense those who bring harmless humor are ministering to you. It is unkind to make fun at the expense of others. Are you willing to make fun at your own expense to minister to others? 

Do you follow my commandments? Blessed are those who do and teach them. Do you do this out of joy or with a sense of bitterness or resentment? Do you think it is enough just to obey, regardless of the attitude of your heart? It was the Pharisees who made a practice of bitter obedience. It doesn’t have to be this way. The Psalmist loved my law, knowing it was a lamp to his feet and a light to his path. Those who know me from afar think obedience to me is an oppressive burden. The better you know me the more you will realize that my commandments are ideal for you.