Dale Cresap's blog

Do you think that I am silent, or that I speak only briefly on special occasions to selected individuals? What do you observe in your communications with other people? If you inquire of someone, even a stranger, and give them your full attention, how often are you met with silence? It is so rare as to be considered a social blunder, and even if they don’t know what you want they will speak. Am I not even more willing to communicate with you? You refer to me as the living word.

You live in a competitive culture, one of striving for victory and dominance. Are you aware of the effect this has on you? But yours is not the only one. This has been the experience of all of history. I said as much when I told my disciples that the gentiles seek position to lord it over others if they may, but I told them that it should not be so among them, but they were to be the servants of all. So are you to cease to seek success? No, but you can do it according to a transformed understanding.

I taught you to love your enemies, to go the extra mile, to turn the other cheek. Do you put these concepts into practice? Do they seem strange and extreme in the real world? Do they appear to have no relationship to your reality; being abstract spiritual ideas of no practical benefit? There are good reasons to avoid making enemies, to not escalate offenses. Life circumstances change and you don’t know when you will need to ask a favor from someone you did not previously consider being a friend. This will be easier if you have resisted the temptation to tell them off.

Do you believe in the value of growth? It is a property of all living things and you see it in effect in the natural world around you and it happens incrementally. You know that there is spiritual growth as well. Do you pursue this in the common Christian practices of Bible study, prayer, and church attendance? These produce incremental growth, but there is another way. A caterpillar becomes a butterfly by metamorphosis. This is transformative growth; a complete change that doesn’t occur incrementally. Is there a spiritual parallel for this? The Bible speaks of it.

Do you follow the first commandment? Are you thinking that you shall have no other gods before me? But the very first commandment was that you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Did you notice that there was no commandment against eating from the tree of life? Yet when the man and woman ate from the wrong tree, it was necessary that they be denied access to the tree of life. Do you realize that this same choice is being offered to you? Do you want to live in relationship with me or do you want to figure it out on your own?

When you need help, do you go to the poor or to the rich? It would seem obvious that the rich have more resources with which to assist, and this is true, but how willing are they to help? The Bible describes those in need of help as the least of these. In your own experience, is it the wealthy who come to their aid, or those who are only one step up from the least of these themselves? The story about the least of these says that those who are kind to them enter the kingdom of heaven.

Do you live in a consumer culture? This is prevalent in the world and becoming more so. If you are immersed in this value system there is a temptation to treat everything as a commodity. This is a consequence of materialism. Do you treat your spirituality as a commodity? Is it something to acquire and possess like everything else? If you find this idea disturbing you should examine yourself, because it takes intentional effort to go against the current of your culture. You are bought with a price. So you do not own your spirituality, it owns you.

Are you familiar with the idea of poetic justice? This isn’t implemented by a formal court ruling, but when someone appears to get what they have coming anyhow; this phrase is commonly used to describe it even if no poetry is involved. Or do you prefer to think of these events as divine justice? That implies more structure and intention than correlation of circumstances. Do you think my justice is only occasional, or is it always in effect? The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine. My justice will not sleep forever. Do you see this primarily in a negative sense?

Are you grateful for your blessings? Do you know they come from me? Do you think that they represent a report card for your performance, or an indication of my approval on your life? But what about the wicked? Where do their blessings come from? I send rain and sun on the just and on the unjust, and you have seen the wicked prosper in ways that you think are unfair. Surely you don’t think their blessings are a validation of their conduct, and neither are yours. I go beyond this and open my hand to satisfy the desire of every living thing.

Do you have an education? Do you value it and continue to pursue it? Do you look for the best sources of information? There is an abundance available and do you know anyone who isn’t eager to share what they know? So you can be selective in your sources, but have you learned that everyone you meet knows something that would be of value to you? I told a story that suggested that your entrance to the Kingdom of God would be based on the way you treated the least of these. Do you know anyone in this category? Do you think of them as your teachers?