Dale Cresap's blog

Is your church better than others? Does this question put you in a quandary? To claim that it is true sounds arrogant and presumptuous. Yet who would want to attend a second best church? Have you been to a church that made claims to being the best, even if subtle and well-disguised? Have you ever been to a church that didn’t? You need a distinctive to attract members, but this is a case to make carefully since the Bible teaches about one faith, one baptism, and one Body of Christ. So is one church better than others? This is too large a question.

Do you want to be popular? Who doesn’t? What is more popular than being popular? You crave human contact, and beyond that, human acceptance and approval. This is comforting and reassuring. Yet I said that the path that leads to life is strait and narrow, and few there be that find it. You are to lay down your life and pick up your cross and follow me. This will never be popular. Beyond that, you can expect persecution and be hated of all men for my sake. Does this put you in a dilemma where you have to make a difficult choice?

Have you ever heard someone downplay the significance of a proposed action saying that a year from now it won’t matter, or 10 years, or 100 years, or more? This is illogical thinking. If you are the captain of a boat and you make a change in course it will have little immediate effect on your position, but the more time that passes on the new course, the further you are from where you would have been otherwise. Do you understand that you own actions are the same way, that they have effects that extend into the future?

I told my followers that if they seek, they would find, and told them to seek first the Kingdom of God. These apply to you as well. So where do you look for the Kingdom of God? The conventional understanding is that heaven is up and hell is down, but these are more geometric than spiritual concepts. They may speak to transcendence, but are they helpful in the real, imminent world you live in? Fortunately I have given you more guidance in saying that the Kingdom of God is within you. It doesn’t get any closer than that. Are you able to find the Kingdom of God if you look there?

Who do you think of as the light of the world? Does this phrase make you think of me? The Bible makes this statement, but in the same Bible I make the statement that you are the light of the world. Do you find this confusing? Could both be true? If so, consider what a strong statement this is. The same Bible tells you to let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify me, so this is an important concept. Have you given deliberate thought as to what your light consists of, and taken intentional action to let it shine?

Have you ever been bored? Do you find certain people to be boring? That makes it easy to put the burden on them, but is that justified? Everyone you meet is fearfully and wonderfully made. They are all made in my image. Even the simplest person is incredibly complex, and has a unique story to tell. If you think that is boring, perhaps it isn’t them. Perhaps it is you. Are you fully invested and engaged with them? Do they understand this in a way that draws their story out of them? You could try this as an experiment.

Do you know the truth? I spoke to the religious leaders of my day and told them that if they continued in my word that they would know the truth and the truth would make them free. They were offended by this because in their own estimation they already knew the truth, and I was suggesting that they did not. On another occasion I was asked by a group if they were blind also. Consider how odd this question is, and my answer that they were blind because they claimed to see. Can you appreciate the paradox that knowing the truth means realizing how much you do not know?

How do you describe your faith? Is it about a book or about a person? Is there anything more universally agreed to across the whole spectrum of Christian denominations than that the essence of your faith is a relationship with me? Believers who can’t seem to agree on anything else will agree on this. Will the people who visit your church go away thinking that it is more about a book or more about me? You do well to distinguish one book from all others and to regard the authority it has as revealed truth.

Are you familiar with the concept of intellectual property rights? Authors copyright their works to maintain control over their distribution and royalties. Things that are not under copyright are referred to as public domain. How do you see the concept of truth? Authors are entitled to control their works and derive any income from them, but having said that, is it possible to maintain control over the truth? Truth is inherently public domain and no one person or even group can exercise control over it. Beware of those who claim to have private truth.

Do you love your enemies? You know that the Bible requires you to do this. Do you find this to be the most difficult commandment to keep? How do you identify your enemies? People who are trying to kill you? People who disagree with you? There is a wide gap between these groups, but you don’t get to excuse yourself from following this commandment by saying that you don’t have any enemies. You can have beneficial interactions with people you disagree with, even if they are working for a different vision of the future.