Dale Cresap's blog

Do you know the difference between shame and guilt? Guilt is the fault for specific acts of offense. Shame is an overall sense of unworthiness. Guilt is a matter of having done something wrong. Shame is a general sense of deficiency and defectiveness. Of the two, shame is more difficult and damaging because it attacks your very identity. Have you experienced both? I can help you with guilt by providing forgiveness. I can help you with shame too, if you can accept the same sanctity of life that you are prepared to offer others.

Have you ever experienced righteous indignation or moral outrage? Have you ever seen these things manifested in other people? Did they appear to be righteous and moral for them? Were they for you? Consider my own life. I reacted strongly to the money changers in the temple, and to the Pharisees. Note that I never did this to the common people, even those that you would consider to be sinners. So what are your righteous indignation and moral outrage directed at? You are not called to judge others, so you may be more moral and righteous with less indignation and outrage.

Are you familiar with the passages in the Bible about Pharisees? Are you glad that you are not one of them, or like them? Do you remember my story about the two men praying? One was a sinner and had a humble and contrite spirit, and cried out for mercy. The other was a Pharisee who prayed thus with himself. He was glad that he was not like other men, like the sinner for example, and his prayer consisted of informing me of all his superior qualities. I said that the first man was justified from his prayer and the second was not.

I promised that those who seek the truth would hear my voice. Do you see this at work in your unbelieving friends? They may appear to be adrift or wandering but I’m keeping a close eye on them. They may appear to be going in the opposite direction, but this illustrates how powerful my promise is. If they stay engaged in the search for truth I will find them. Trust the process and do your part, which is to stay engaged with them. This may just require presence and availability. Be sensitive to my leading so that you don’t get ahead of me.

I teach you to love your enemies. Have you ever been tempted to cast off restraints and tell someone who offended you what you really think of them in explicit detail? Have you ever given in to the temptation? Have you ever resisted? Which worked out better? Be cautious about escalating a hostile situation, and look for opportunities to keep your mouth shut. Don’t burn your bridges. Time passes and situations change, and you never know when you will need a favor from someone you may have alienated. The best way to love your enemies is not to make them in the first place.

You are confident that I have a plan for your life. Do you see that only in response to the gospel message and salvation? Do you think the plan is very general or very specific? If you ask for directions to go somewhere you can get either type of answer, and you can give such answers to those who inquire of you. Do you think that every step must be correct? Do you experience stress in your own life thinking that you may have stepped off the correct path? You probably have, so you can relax. The detours are not as important as you may think.

Do you think of prayer as one-way or two-way communication? You are familiar with many examples of both types. One-way communication is also called broadcast, and lends itself to passive reception. Two-way communication is interactive, so it could be considered a conversation or exchange. Which do you find more rewarding? Which do you think I find more rewarding? Someone skilled at conversation is sensitive to social cues, so they know when to speak up and when to be silent. Do you apply this same principle to your prayers, and know when it is time to listen?

I promised that no temptation would overtake you that you would not be able to bear, but that I would provide a way of escape. Do you like this part? But the passage goes on to say, that you may be able to bear it. Are you less enthusiastic about this part? Does it seem that I have joined two concepts that appear to contradict one another? Escaping and bearing seem to be opposites. Could both be true? Have you ever endured a difficult situation and gone straight through it rather than around it, and yet found a place of refuge in your faith that made it bearable?

Do you have questions for me? Are there things about the future you want to know? Have you found that I don’t normally give you more details in advance than you need? What about your current life situation? Do you ask me why I don’t put an end to the difficulties you face? If you want answers to your questions, structure them and position yourself in a way that facilitates the answer. If you approach this matter from the perspective of what you may learn and how you may grow from what you experience you are more likely to find meaning and purpose in it, and have your question answered.

Do you keep a list of people who have hurt you? This doesn’t have to be a formal database with you as the administrator. Who can resist keeping accounts of wrongs suffered, and who has inflicted them? Do you also keep a list of those you have hurt? Most people are much more lax in attending to this. Are you aware of who should be on the list? They are. You could view this as an indicator of spiritual maturity. You start out aware of your own concerns. The more you advance the more you expand your circle of awareness to include the viewpoints of others.