Dale Cresap's blog

Do you think that everyone is spiritual? People of good conscience differ on this question. My answer is only those who are created in my image. Do you know anyone who doesn’t like music? There are many types of music and everyone has their own tastes, but have you ever met anyone who didn’t like any type of music? Do you see these as being related questions? What is the content of music beyond the lyrics? Do you see music and other forms of art as doorways to the transcendent? This works universally, even on people whose profession is to reject any belief or creed. It is unavoidable.

In regard to dietary laws I said that it wasn’t what went into a man that defiled him, but what came out, referring to slander, blasphemy, and false speech. Beware what you say. What about the positive side of the same question? Is it what comes out of a man that edifies him, or what goes in? Have you ever met anyone in love with the sound of their voice? This is a common human affliction. Yet those who progress to spiritual maturity learn that they can’t engineer their own transformation. If you are to experience deep change that is real and enduring, it will come to you from beyond.

Have you ever had an epiphany? This is a sudden and unexpected realization of eternal truth. It is a quantum leap in spiritual awareness. You can make incremental progress in your understanding by study through intentional effort, but you can’t schedule an epiphany. It comes to you when you least expect it. People use the term in jest, but real ones are rare, perhaps once or twice in a lifetime, but they are of sufficient intensity to make a permanent change. They are a means of transformation. Even though you can’t arrange an epiphany you can position yourself to receive it.

Do you see any purpose in suffering? Is there anything else that people go to such great lengths to avoid? Christians are quick to point out that they don’t need to suffer for their redemption, for that has already been done, and they are saved by grace rather than works. Could there be any reason? The Bible says he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Paul listed all the credentials he could claim and then systematically devalued every one. Yet when it became necessary for him to assert his authority he referred to the scars he got from serving me.

Have you ever had a contagious disease? Have you ever given one to someone else? Disease is transmitted by mechanisms well understood by medical science. Do you think of pain as being contagious? It isn’t transmitted in the same way that disease is, and this is more of a psychological question than a medical one, but have you met people in pain who are very effective at transmitting their pain? What is the alternative? Suffering in silence? Is it possible to do better than that? Could your pain be transformed into redemptive purpose that is also contagious to other people? 

What is the most spiritual thing you do? Go to church? I offered a lesson in priorities when I said that if you come to offer a gift on the altar, and recall that your brother has something against you, that you should leave your gift and go and be reconciled with your brother, and then come back and offer your gift. Is church attendance the modern equivalent of offering your gift? Is this more spiritual than being reconciled to your brother? My illustration suggests that it is not. Have you ever left a church service to attend to a matter of human reconciliation? Feel free to do so.

If you seek me you will find me, but have you found that if you do this I will meet you where you are? In addition I will meet you as you are. If you regard yourself as an artist I will meet you as an artist. If you think of yourself as a respected intellectual you will think of me the same way. Is your perception of me a comprehensive description of my being? No, but I can reveal myself in many ways. Don’t judge others for perceiving me differently than you do. They would say the same about you.

Peacemakers are highly rated in the Bible, so you should want to be one. Don’t assume that this is something that only diplomats and statesmen can do. The term implies that you must start with an absence of peace. How hard is it to find strife? Then how do you go about making peace? You can start by bringing the two sides together and helping them to see how much they have in common. Don’t discount the value of shared humanity. Problems are solved at a higher level of thinking than gave rise to them. Disputes resolve at the level of transcendence.

Have you heard of the military industrial complex? It is ironic that the man who warned of this was a general and the commander of the prevailing side in the largest war in history. Yet his concerns have proven to be valid. Do you suppose there is also an evangelical industrial complex? Have you ever seen overlap between the Kingdom of God and the world of commerce, or blurred distinctions between them? The workman is worthy of his wages, and those who labor among you are worthy of support. Blessed are those who do well by doing good.

The human desire for justice and explanations is strong, so in the face of tragedy and suffering, people will try to assign blame. I faced this same question with regard to a man who was born blind. The question that the religious leaders debated was who sinned that this came about? Was it him or his parents? I answered the question that it was neither the man nor his parents. Blame isn’t always assignable and this is worth remembering as a general rule, since you are not called on to judge. Then I healed the man. So would you rather be an arbiter of cosmic justice or a healer?