Dale Cresap's blog

You have heard that you can pick your friends but you can’t pick your relatives. Does this imply that your friends form a more agreeable and uniform group than your relatives? You can pick your church, but you can’t pick the people in your church. Yet the principle of selection still applies because the other people in your church picked the same one you did. Would you expect to find more beneficial diversity among your friends, family, or church? Are you aware of the ways groupthink will limit your comprehension of the truth?

Have you been through a faith crisis? Have you been through a transformative experience? Did you see these as being the same thing? Are you used to growth as steps in a journey, and regard your progress as passing milestones and see this as an accomplishment? But this is not the path of transformation that you really need. If you are willing to go here, you can expect it to feel as though your world is collapsing rather than enlarging. You will feel the loss of those things that are holding you back before you emerge into a larger reality. Don’t hold back out of fear.

Do you know any insecure people? What characteristics do you see in them? Are they grasping and ungracious, clinging to titles and accomplishments, and trying to prove their superiority at the expense of others? Do you also know secure people who are characterized by peace and generosity and humility? Don’t you prefer the company of those whose lived reality is an expression of their known inner worth? If being secure is desirable, what is the source of security? Would you benefit by having more yourself? How do you go about increasing your sense of security?

Have you ever taken a leap of faith? When you go to school you learn according to a curriculum, which is a series of lessons broken down into steps where each one builds in a logical progression. The concept of steps is appropriate here since you have a secure footing on the next step before you release the previous one. This is a great approach for lessons, or for movement on even level ground. Have you ever had to go somewhere that you couldn’t get to with steps?

Do you want more stuff? But the things you own can be a burden. Have you ever found that their promise of a better life is not fulfilled? The alternative is to be content with what you have. There is Biblical support for this idea. Do you have enough? Have you ever faced a new task and realized that you could accomplish it with what you already have? This is called resourcefulness and it is the alternative to acquisition. It is better because you have less to store and maintain. Paul said that he was as one who owned nothing but he possessed all things.

Do you enjoy giving gifts? Do you find it rewarding to be thoughtful and generous? Are you familiar with the gift-giving dilemma of what do you get for the person who has everything? Do you see how this question applies to gifts that you would give me to an extreme degree? For I created all things. Yet I have told you what is on my list. The thing I want most from you is a broken spirit and a contrite heart. Have you seen these qualities in people and found them to be attractive? Yet they come at a cost. Do you know anyone you would describe this way that didn’t suffer to get it?

Have you heard the saying, ‘united we stand and divided we fall’? Are you aware that you live in a culture in which intense individualism is accepted as normal? Can you see the advantages of individualism? Can you see the drawbacks? If you pursue individualism without also pursuing community you will end up alone, alienated and isolated. You get to choose your community, and some are not for you, but this is not an excuse for rejecting all associations. So what are you passionate about? What cause inspires you? With whom will you stand united, and for what cause?

You have material needs, so you need a source of income, and this typically means a job. So a job can provide you with an income, but it does more than this. A job also provides you with an opportunity to serve; to provide a useful service for your employer or customers. So your income is created out of the value you create. Which do you think is more important? Does the Bible speak more highly of acquiring money or being a servant? Since your job performs both functions, you have the choice of the perspective you take and how you prioritize them.

Do you like to play games? Do you like to win? That is the objective of structured competition, and giving your best makes the game more enjoyable whether you win or lose. Do you like to wrestle with me? The Bible is full of stories of people who did. These encounters were always transformative encounters for them. If you wrestled with me would you want to win? What would this even look like? Why would you want to engage in a contest in which you knew you wouldn’t emerge victorious?

Do you find that believers in general have a reputation with those who are outside the faith? In your experience is this a positive or negative image? In times past was it assumed that someone who practiced the faith had character and integrity more than those who did not? Do you see a trend in the reputation of believers from the culture at large? If their standing is declining there could be more than one explanation. Christians like the explanation that the world around them is in decline and that depravity and darkness will not tolerate the light. But is there another possibility?