Dale Cresap's blog

If the church were a business, what product would it be selling? The forgiveness of sins? Businesses need customers. Is there enough demand for this to keep the church in business? Have you found that believers, who are already forgiven, take sin seriously, and unbelievers, who are not, do not? So you have something they need and they don’t know it. How do you go about giving something to someone who doesn’t want it? Better advertising and marketing? You have the message of life. How can you present it so that it resonates with your audience to satisfy a need they are aware of?

Does your church teach that family is paramount importance and worth every sacrifice? I didn’t teach this. I said that because of me one family member would be set against another, and that a man’s enemies would be of his own household. I also said that my brothers were not flesh and blood relatives, but those who did the will of God. Blessed are you if you have close, loving relationships with your relatives, but you have no guarantee that this will be the case. Even the Bible provides counterexamples. Blood may be thicker than water, but Spirit is thicker still.

The last promise of the Old Testament was that I would send Elijah, so when a prophet appeared it made sense for the people to ask John the Baptist if he was Elijah. He said he was not, but I said he was. Although his name was not Elijah he came to fulfill the role and this was before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. The implication was that every generation needs someone to act as Elijah and John the Baptist did this in his own time.

I taught you to love your enemies. I actually taught you to love everyone, but loving your enemies may be the most severe test of this general principle. If you can love your enemies you can love anyone, but this is indeed difficult. How can you go about it? You can’t love from a distance by well-wishing, so you need to approach and engage those with whom you disagree.

Are you prepared to sacrifice for me? What do you think would please me? Your money, your time? I will not reject these, but what I want most from you is a broken spirit and a contrite heart. This is also one of the most expensive gifts you can give, but it is not for me alone. Isn’t this also one of the best gifts you can give other people? Haven’t you already seen this in the people you encounter? What quality is more desirable than an unselfconscious sense of grace?

Do you like to win? Some of life’s activities are competitive by nature, but people go beyond that to structure competitive events and are eager to take part in them. Everyone likes to win. Jacob wrestled with me in the night and I told him to let go but he wouldn’t and he ended up with his hip out of joint and walked with a limp ever after. So who won the wrestling match? When you wrestle with me the concepts of a winner and a loser are not as clear cut as they are in structured human competition. So would you be eager to wrestle with me under these circumstances? Would you expect to win?

Are you familiar with the Bible passages about storing up treasure in heaven? Does this make perfect sense to you? What about the story of the unjust steward? He was fired for dishonest performance, and his last acts were to gain favor with his master’s customers so he would not have to work afterwards. This may have been shrewd, but was it admirable? Do you see a connection between these stories? Do you live your life in such a way as to have strong connections with others and favor with them so they will remember you when you are in need? Could you think of this as treasure in heaven?

Have you ever seen anyone wear a cross as an item of jewelry, such as a necklace? This would not have occurred in my lifetime, for the cross was an instrument of torture and death, not adornment. What has happened since? The cross has become the universal symbol of the Christian faith. There are two ways to consider this. One is that the cross has become so commonplace that it has lost its original meaning and impact.

Have you ever taken a math test? Would you be suspicious if every problem had the same answer? Wouldn’t you expect a different answer for every problem? Yet have you met people who offer the same answer for every problem? You should be just as suspicious of this as you would for the math test, for the real world you live in is complex and does not lend itself to the same answer for every question. This reflects thinking that is ideological, narrow, and shallow. Do you take pleasure in people who are so easily predictable? Don’t be one yourself.

Have you ever heard of seeds of doubt? You may have heard challenges to your faith, or had circumstances go against you, possibly in the form of something that you prayed for that didn’t happen. Does this cause you to re-examine your faith? It is best to address these questions, because seeds of this type will turn into weeds in your garden. There are other types of seeds as well. These are referred to in the parable of the sower and the seed, and also in the story of one apostle planting and another watering but God giving the increase.