Dale Cresap's blog

Do you have an answer for everything? Is it reasonable to expect this from anyone? I have called you to have an answer for the hope that lies within you, but this is not the same thing and is not nearly so ambitious as having an answer for everything. Do you understand that you are engaged with an infinite divine mystery? Do you know that it is OK to admit that there are things you don’t understand? Why do believers so readily accept the premise that they must be able to answer every question? Witnesses can only testify to what they have experienced firsthand.

Are you familiar with the story of the wheat and the tares? Wheat is valuable and tares are weeds. The workers volunteered to remove the tares immediately, but the master was concerned that the wheat would be damaged in the process, so they were allowed to grow together and separated at the time of harvest. How eager are you to judge those things that need to be removed and condemned? I’m willing to be patient and allow them to grow side by side. There is another reason for this besides the concern for damage to the growing crop. In the economy of my kingdom tares can become wheat.

What do you see as the purpose of your faith? Do you see yourself as a human trying to be spiritual, as the lesser trying to gain greater stature? Is it possible that you have it backwards? You are inherently spiritual because you are made in my image. Do you see your spiritual quest as a means for improving your humanity? You do spiritual activities to help others and support your church, but I have offered you and called you to transformation. If you become more loving it will make you a better person, and be noticed and appreciated by believer and unbeliever alike.

Do you have answers for all your questions? Are you uncomfortable having unanswered questions? How eager are you to accept the first answer that comes along to resolve this discomfort? Have you ever accepted an answer that you later found to be wrong because you were too quick to resolve the issue? It is better to have no answer than to be convinced of the wrong answer. Learn to be patient with your questions. You can live with them, and walk with them as friends.

Are you grateful for the blessings I bestow upon you? Can you see my hand in the events of your daily life, and offer thanks? Have you encountered people who object, saying that my intervention in the minor details of your life pales in comparison to the suffering of multitudes and calls into question my goodness and impartiality? There are two issues here. You have not been called to be an arbiter of cosmic justice.

Do you see your life as an ongoing journey? This implies progress through a series of waypoints along the way. Your understanding of truth should always be open to growth and refinement. How do you respond to intermediate levels of understanding when you acquire greater truth? Some people spend the rest of their lives in reaction against immature levels of understanding, but this is itself immature. Take what was good from your journey so far and move forward, realizing that this is part of the process.

I asked you to follow me, and walking in my footsteps is a matter of imitating my life. If you do this you will start to look like me. So does my image that you present to those who encounter you look like me or you? John the Baptist declared that he must decrease that I might increase. He knew that there was too much of himself present for him to represent me well, but his willingness to decrease made room for a fuller expression of me in him. He who seeks to increase his own life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake will find it.

Have you met people who are angry and bitter? Do you draw a distinction between the two? My word tells you to be angry and sin not. Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath. The first part is spoken by way of permission. If you feel that anger is a necessary step in dealing with issues, then go ahead, but don’t remain there. Unresolved anger that is retained becomes bitterness. Anger can be directed at an offense, but bitterness is a characteristic. The bitter person may be blind to this, but other observers can see that the bitterness is no longer attached to the original offense.

Does your church have one-true-church mentality? Some churches are famous for this, but the same issue can be found in any church. Every church has a unique identity, and the people who go there rather than to some other church do so for a reason. There is nothing wrong with this as far as that goes, but there is a temptation to think that if you are doing it right then others are doing it wrong if they are doing it differently. You can do what is right for you and they can do what is right for them, and each will answer to the same master.

Do you think it is important to identify and name evil? Are you as committed to identifying and naming good? Which do you think is more important? I have called you to be as wise and serpents and as innocent as doves. Do those who specialize in naming evil and neglect naming good seem out of balance and lacking in redemptive purpose? You are not to ignore evil, but neither should you be fascinated or fearful of it.