Dale Cresap's blog

Is your pastor hesitant to teach you about giving because he knows you are sensitive about the issue? Do you think it is a conflict of interest if he benefits, even if indirectly, from your giving? Does he become your enemy if he tells you the truth? If you will not receive it from him, from whom will you receive it? For my word is clear about the blessings to the generous. There have been excesses and abuses concerning this doctrine, but they do not negate the truth. You can’t afford not to be generous. It would be better to give somewhere else than to not have a manifestation of generosity in your life. Blessed is he who gives to his church and elsewhere as well.

Have you ever encountered people who by the nature of their job or the way they accomplish it seem to make more work for other people? This is the opposite of helping. They have a counterpart in my Kingdom. There are believers who conduct themselves in such a way that the way of truth is evil spoken of. Those who encounter them have a bad impression of believers, creating an obstacle for them to receive the gospel message. It is still possible for them to be saved, but it creates extra work for those who present my word with faithfulness and integrity. Live so that your life makes people desire me. 

My word tells you to remember the poor. It also says that to him who has more shall be given, and to him who has not, what little he has will be taken away. Do these sound contradictory to you? The redistribution of wealth is a prevalent theme of many governments, and it is popular among those who have not. Yet the above verse implies that the spiritually rich will get richer. The economy of my Kingdom is not a zero sum game. My wealth is inexhaustible and available to all. Those who seek it get it because they value it, and they get more. Those who don’t value it discard what they have been given and don’t notice the loss. Lay up your treasure in heaven.

Do you think that everyone wants peace? If this were true than there would be peace everywhere, but you know that this is not true. Everyone wants peace on their own terms. Perhaps a better question would be whether you wanted peace enough to make the sacrifices necessary to obtain it. Do you think that this question only applies to nations? I tell you that it scales down to individuals. Strife and division and discord are possible at every level of aggregation. Is this present enough to be considered a default condition? Do not accept this as inevitable, but walk in grace and humility toward all that you may be a peacemaker my child.

Do you expect to be commended when you do right and hope for mercy when you do wrong?  Do you think it is bad enough to suffer for your own faults and hope that in some way your virtues will balance against them? Yet my word speaks of suffering for the sake of righteousness, even as I did, for they hated me without a cause and I had done them no harm. Isn’t it unrealistic to expect to lead a pain free life? Then isn’t it better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil? For in this case my word tells you to rejoice. Suffering for wrongdoing can be considered as chastisement and correction, but suffering for virtue is the glory of righteousness.

The common people received my message gladly. Those who rejected me had titles and position invested in the status quo. I came to give them life, and they perceived me as a threat because they were so closely attached to a system they depended on. They hated me without a cause. The same dynamic can work within an individual on a smaller scale. Do you have any attachments in your life that prevent you from fully embracing me? You know that the Pharisees would have been better off to walk away from all they had to follow me. This is a universal truth that applies to all people in all times. Is there anything you are attached to that holds you back?

You ask me for blessings and you are right to come and make your requests of me. What is your concept of the blessings you seek? Do you think that they will give you an easy and indulgent life? Yet even unbelievers know intuitively that this is not the best life to live. Then perhaps you should expand your understanding of blessings. If you ask me for them and believe that I answer your prayers, then you should examine your life if the light of that and see how your circumstances fit in the context of my Kingdom.

Do you read for enjoyment, or information, or that you may be changed? Reading for information is harder than reading for fun, and reading to change yourself is still more rigorous, but it is the most beneficial. Who has not tried to break a habit or overcome a deep-seated tendency? You observe your friends characteristics to be fairly constant, and see the same thing in yourself. If you recognize that some of these are hindrances you know how hard it is to eliminate them. Such is the promise of the gospel message, not only that your sins can be forgiven, but that you can be transformed into my likeness. You do not have my promise that this will be easy, but for it to happen at all is a testimony to the light of the world.

Have you ever gone to a ‘come as you are’ party? This is an effort to get people to relax the artificial image they present to others. Do you understand that I throw the ultimate ‘come as you are’ party? You could not improve yourself enough to be presentable to me, but I will receive you as you are to perform my work of grace in your life. To approach me on some other basis would demonstrate that you don’t know your true nature or the nature of my redemptive work. Do you understand the value of time? Your efforts to clean yourself up waste time that you could put to better use serving me in my Kingdom. Come to me as you are. Now.

Do you find Christians to be judgmental? Do you think it is normal for them to be this way? They have received my commandments and I expect them to follow them. Should they expect others to follow them as well? Yet one of my commandments is that you judge not. Those who do not acknowledge me do not receive this commandment and can give harsh unrighteous judgment. Those who call on my name should acknowledge that they are creatures of mercy and this should make them reluctant to judge others. Those who judge demonstrate that they don’t understand the mercy they receive. Those who are forgiven much love much and judge not.