Dale Cresap's blog

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.

Are you aware that you get lenient treatment from me? My word says that I have not punished you for all your sins, or given you harsh treatment. Yet you should want every sin eliminated from your life. Therefore when I deal with you in one area it is a good idea to search and examine the rest of your life to see if anything else should be eliminated. It is better for all if you search and try your ways rather than requiring me or someone else to bring the need for correction to your attention. It is beneficial for you to examine yourself on a routine basis, but let gentle reminders prompt you to a more thorough review. Judge yourself and you will not be judged.

Do you judge people by their behavior? Even if you can avoid this temptation, others will judge you by your behavior, both individually and corporately. Have you heard criticism of Christians generally and by specific example that seemed to have a valid basis? If you were staffing a company or a team, wouldn’t you want to be selective in whom you chose? Yet the gospel message is offered to whosoever will accept it. Does it seem that those who respond are from the lower strata? Not many noble or wise are called. Yet my work in those I do call is not finished. My goal is not to make them wise in the wisdom of this world, but to change them into my likeness. Watch this divine transformation take place and glorify me for it. 

Your culture makes a strong distinction between winners and losers. My word tells you to lay down your life and pick up your cross, to be a servant to all, to be humble and lowly. Which category does this sound like to you? Yet my word also carries a strong theme of triumph and victory. The means to achieve this are not according to the wisdom of this world in which you win by your own efforts, climbing over others as necessary to attain it. Yet I promise to oppose the proud and give grace to the humble. If you humbly trust and obey me you will see me intervene to give you victory. 

Do you engage in violence? My word tells you to turn the other cheek to those who would strike you. Yet it would be easy to examine yourself casually on this matter and find no fault. There is a level of violence that does not involve striking. Harsh words can be just as cruel, as I said in my Sermon on the Mount, and I also said that you would give an account for every idle word. Therefore set a guard on your mouth that you consider your words with purpose. Realize the power you have in what you say, for good or for evil, and craft your words to conform to my will, that you may speak life and blessing into the lives of all who hear you.

Do Bible teachers tell you that the study of the Bible is the most important feature of the Christian life? The Bible itself does not say this. Study is beneficial for all believers, but it comes easily for some and with difficulty for others. In an age of widespread literacy it is easy to assume that everyone is an academic or has an aptitude for study, but this is not so. Is literacy a prerequisite for godliness? If your aptitude for singing is greater than your aptitude for study then it is acceptable for you to put more emphasis on singing praise to me than in Bible scholarship. Do your bible scholars put an equal amount of time in worship? I know what talents I gave you and it honors and pleases me for you to fully employ them.

I promise you that my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Have you ever performed service for me that seemed strenuous and demanding? Yet how many times have you tried something on your own and encountered obstacles and ‘locked doors’ that prevented your progress no matter how much or how little effort you put forth? In like manner have you followed my leading and found a sense of divine favor that doors seemed to spring open before you and you found that you had the resources at hand as soon as you needed them? Didn’t the sense of peace and certainty of purpose make this seem like a light burden even if it involved strenuous effort?

My word tells you to pray fervently, to pray evermore, that men ought always to pray and not faint. What does this mean to you? If you think of prayer as the stating of requests then it means asking continually. Yet when my disciples asked me to teach them to pray, my response was in effect to tell them to worship and adore God. Do you think I answered their question? This does not fit the model of prayer as continual asking, but it is more sustainable and something you can do without feeling greedy and grasping. If your worship convinces you of my goodness and faithfulness and conforms you to me then only a little effort is required to ask for whatever you desire and receive it.

Do you have a network of fellow believers you interact with and rely on for support? If not you should ask me for this and I will give it to you. Not all of your brothers and sisters in the faith, even in your own church, will understand the road you are walking and your place on it. Yet there are some who are in a similar place and they will understand. You are drawn to them as kindred souls as they are to you, and you benefit from contact with them as they do with you. Though you are a stranger and sojourner in this world I have not left you alone. I said that where two or three are gathered in my name I would be there in the midst of them and I will give you two or three.

In the early church some of my disciples encountered a man preaching the repentance of sins according to the baptism of John. They took him aside privately afterward and explained the fullness of the Christian faith to him in greater detail, and he received it. You too will encounter those with good intentions and incomplete understanding. It is debatable whether you should enter a public confrontation with your enemies, but these people are not your enemies. Take a position of humility and grace to instruct them in greater understanding of the truth. Love them in such a way to make it easy for them to respond.