Dale Cresap's blog

I'm leaving town for a few days. See you in a week. 

Have you heard it said that everyone talks about the weather but no one does anything about it? Is there anything for which the situation is reversed, that everyone is engaged in and no one talks about? You acknowledge your appetites for food and drink as hunger and thirst. Are you equally aware of your desire for meaning and purpose? How many people discuss this openly? Yet you can endure a life of pain easier than you can a life without meaning. Once you understand this you can see it in the actions of people that are difficult to explain any other way. How do you manifest your hunger for meaning in your own life?

How great is your need for approval? Everyone has an appetite for this as much as for food and drink. Who doesn’t thrive on affirmation? Yet just as it is detrimental to be driven by your appetite for food your appetite for approval can cause problems. If you care what people think about you it gives them undue influence over you. If you cannot please two masters then how much less can you please a multitude? My prophets were not popular for being faithful to me, and the Kingdom of God is not a popularity contest. It is a beneficial spiritual practice to fast from food for a season. Can you also fast from your appetite for approval?

Do you consider yourself a good judge of character and able to select the right candidate for important positions? Tax collectors may not be highly esteemed in any culture but in my time they were particularly despised for being in collusion with an occupying oppressor. Yet I called Matthew to leave his seat collecting tribute and follow me to be a disciple and then an apostle. What did I see in him that caused me to call him? Would you have chosen him for this assignment? If you consider yourself a good judge of character you are likely to rely on your own judgment rather than inquiring of me when you have to make choices.

Soldiers in battle require physical courage in facing the enemy. Have you ever been in this situation? How many people do you know who have? Yet there are other types of courage that everyone can experience. Have you ever suffered rejection or ridicule for holding an unpopular position? Even if there is not a risk of death or injury the pain associated with standing for principle is real. Soldiers have weapons with which to fight back, but those weapons are not helpful in this situation. Nevertheless the truth will sustain you for speaking up when it would be easier to remain silent.

Do you ask me for trials and afflictions? No one does, and I don’t expect you to, but you will have them whether you ask for them or not. Can you see that there are some desirable character traits that can only be acquired through suffering? Longsuffering is only one of these. But even though all suffer, not all grow as a result. What do you have that is more precious and costly than your sorrows? It would be a shame to waste them. Your attitude toward them and the way you respond to them determines whether they will transform your life or just make you miserable.

Do you see the gospel as a positive or negative message? If you ask the next ten people you encounter walking down the street would you be surprised if they said the gospel was a list of rules and things you cannot do? Is this how you see it? Whose fault is it if they have the wrong impression? The gospel is a message of life. It is about abundant life. It is about finding and fulfilling the unique destiny and purpose for which I created you. It gives meaning and belonging and a sense of identity to those who embrace it. Is this how you see the gospel message in your own life? Can you share it this way with others?

Have you heard that lifestyle evangelism is the most effective type? Have you noticed that it is time consuming? Do not confuse the work of evangelism with the world of commerce where there are such things as sales quotas. Be patient and take your time. You may never see the fruit of your efforts, but planting seeds and watering are essential to the final outcome. It isn’t necessary that the same person follows the process through and gathers the harvest. Rest assured that your labor in me is not in vain. My call to you is to let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify me, and this is not a burdensome assignment.

Have you ever seen an iceberg? Most people have not, but most people also know that only a small portion of an iceberg is visible above water, so if they ever did see one they would realize that most of it is below the surface. Do you know that you live in a spiritual realm? The visible world that you see is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.  You are immersed in a spiritual reality that is just as real even though you can’t see it. You know that the 90% of the iceberg underwater supports the 10% that is visible. In about the same proportions the invisible spiritual world supports the world you can see.  

Are you fishing in shallow waters? You may not fish at all, but you choose how you spend your time, whether it is on things of substance that matter, or on passing things with no enduring value. Do you find that this modern world exerts pressure on you toward the banal and frivolous? It takes a sense of purpose and intention to turn away from the readily available diversions and amusements to seek deeper things. My disciples were fishermen and I told them to push out into deeper water for a catch, and this proved to be good advice. I would offer you the same advice whether you are a fisherman or not.