Dale Cresap's blog

Have you heard it said that you are what you eat? This can be argued at the most basic material level, and a proper diet is important to health, but you are a spiritual being. I taught that it is not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out. For the food you eat passes through you and is eliminated, but what comes out of your mouth is an indication of your heart. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. This is true for better or for worse, for curses and insults and condemnation or for blessing and affirmation and favor. Just as godliness is more profitable than bodily exercise, so the words you speak are more important than your diet. 

Do you believe in the sanctity of life? This is easy to believe in for infants and children who are in a state of innocence. What about adults who have issues and character flaws? This is a more severe test of your commitment to this principle. The sanctity of life is based on the creature being made in the image of the creator. This is still true even if the creature is fallen in sin. It is not based on the life being worthy, but is an intrinsic value. Do you see your fellow men and women as made in my image whether they believe or not? This gives you the same perspective I have, and an appreciation for the magnitude of the great commission. 

Have you heard it taught that Christians should not be involved in politics? This restriction is not in the Bible, but it is often stated by those who oppose the Christian world view. Yet political involvement is a test of character because it is a field that lends itself to strife and acrimonious debate. The polarized camps make stereotyped caricatures of and mock and curse the other side. How do you represent my values without descending into such behavior? You are called to let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify me. If you display grace and maturity in the political realm it will indeed be a light in the darkness.

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.