Dale Cresap's blog

My word says my sheep know my voice. I can speak to anyone I wish, and I do. Who would be able to approach me for salvation if I did not call? Many who hear are unaware that I am the one bringing favorable thoughts to their minds, but my own people should recognize my voice when I speak to them. You are generally free to share the things I tell you, but it is important to do this in grace and humility. If you claim to speak for me then you should expect others to judge your words according to their own conscience and their understanding of my nature revealed in scripture, just as you do when someone else speaks in my name.

Do you think of friends as being equals? I have called you my friend, but we are not equals. Yet have you not been in a friendship with someone else in which one brings more to the relationship in resources or maturity or some other significant way? You are still friends but you are mindful of the difference between you. Doesn’t the lesser usually seek out the greater, expecting a greater benefit? If the greater one is gracious he will not emphasize their difference in status. Do I ever remind you of how much greater I am? And it was I who sought your company, and made it possible, and am pleased to acknowledge you as my friend.

Do you have seemingly impossible questions that you ponder? Bring them to me. Search the scriptures and see that I handle difficult questions well. Yet I do not promise to resolve for you questions that theologians have wrestled with for centuries. Yet even if I don’t give you a definite answer I can still bring you to a state of peace with regard to the question. Now you see in a glass darkly but you will see me face to face. One day you will see me as I am and you will ask me no questions, for you will know as you are known. Until then I ask you to trust me, with patience regarding things not yet revealed, knowing that I am in control of them.

Do you remember my prayer for my tormentors while I was on the cross? ‘Father forgive them, for they know not what they do’. Do you realize the understatement in this case? All the issues of time and eternity converged here and they were totally unaware. Have you ever prayed this prayer yourself? For you live in a spiritual world, with unnoticed and seemingly insignificant acts having consequences for eternity. You understand this but those who walk in darkness have no comprehension of it. Is ignorance of the law a valid legal defense? Yet it is a gracious thing for you to pray this same prayer for others. 

Do you think the Bible verse saying that all things are lawful leaves the door open for you to do whatever you want? Yet the Bible goes on to say that not all things are profitable, and gives very clear guidance on specific things that are prohibited. What are you to do in areas where the Bible is silent? You should not do whatever you feel like without restraint, but everyone should seek my guidance according to his own conscience. I don’t want you to think of my word as a book of laws, but rather as a guide to the relationship you have with me. Let it lead you to have a heart set on pleasing me. 

Are you familiar with the story of the good Samaritan? Do you assume that Samaritans were inherently good? This is a commonly accepted idea today, but to see it this way is to miss the point of the story entirely, and the phrase ‘good Samaritan’ does not appear in the text. Samaritans were outcasts because of their false beliefs. I chose the characters deliberately for a purpose. What would be an equivalent for today? Those on their way to Bible study passing by and the drug addict who stopped to help? You conclude that the Samaritan was good because of his actions. I want you to understand that this is a general principle. 

Is everyone in your church relatively nice, respectable, and well-off? Does this fill you with alarm and concern? I repeatedly taught that the Kingdom was for the needy and oppressed. When the invited guests refused to come to my wedding banquet I had my servants go far and wide to compel the poor and lame to come in. When you fellowship do you find yourself surrounded by such people? If not then you may well think that something is wrong. There is an abundant supply of such people in the world and I am keenly interested in having the banquet hall full at my wedding feast. Go and get them. 

Are you familiar with the parable of the sower and the seed? There are different outcomes for the seed sown in different areas, but the parable implies that all of the seed is good. The difference is in the conditions it finds for growth. The seed represents the word, full of divine life and potential for growth. The sower could have found good soil and planted all the seed there, but the story says that the seed fell in all types of soil. Has your garden ever grown in ways you didn’t expect? You can’t always tell good soil from bad by a casual examination. This is all the more true in the story. I give you an unlimited supply of seed. Sow it everywhere. 

I said that except a grain of wheat dies, it abides alone, but if it dies in the earth it brings forth much fruit. You can see the obvious way in which I was referring to myself, but can you also see that the illustration I used about a seed being consumed in the process of producing a plant is a universal principle? In that case can you see that it applies to you as well? Not in the unique way that it applied to me, but do you see any effective and fruitful gospel works that occur without sacrifice? I call you to lay down your life and pick up your cross and follow me. Your obedience in dying to yourself is a necessary part of the fruitful ministry I have for you.

Are you familiar with the story of Balaam? He was offered money to curse my people. He had a recognized spiritual gift and ability or the offer would not have been made. I told him not to go, but the final offer was high enough for him to overcome my objections. You know that ministry should be given freely and not for reward or up to the highest bidder, but are you subject to more subtle temptations? Is there prestige attached to a successful ministry? You know better than to call it glory, for you know this belongs to me, but how do these differ? If your heart and motives are pure toward me I will show you a way to serve me that gives all the glory to me.