Dale Cresap's blog

Have you ever run laps? This is a common way to exercise in a limited area, but it doesn’t lend itself to getting to a destination. In a larger sense, does it feel as if you are running laps in life, dealing with the same issues in the same way and going around in circles, making no progress? Is this a source of frustration and discouragement? There is another way to approach this. In the world of mathematics some problems are solved by successive approximations.

I promised my followers an abundant life. Do you see your life as more abundant or more mundane? Do you spend most of your time in tedious routines? Does this seem inevitable from the demands and commitments of life? You may benefit by learning that abundance is more than money, and also more than the items on your list of tasks to accomplish. How do you see the world? Do you live in an enchanted world saturated with spiritual significance? A world where everything belongs and every gesture is filled with meaning and purpose?

Do you recall my statements that many would come in my name that I didn’t send? And that ye shall know them by their fruits? Are you a victim of spiritual abuse, or do you know people who are? Do they (or you) attribute this to me or to the people who did this acting in my name? This is an important difference, for many have rejected me for crimes I did not commit, and it is true that there are those because of whom the way of truth is evil spoken of. Can you discern the difference between those whom I sent and those I did not even though both go by my name and claim my authority?

Have you been through a quantum change in life? This is a term from physics, but it can be applicable to human experience as well. Most growth in nature, including human growth, is gradual and continuous. Yet certain events can be transformative, and you refer to these as defining moments. They are abrupt transitions that leave you forever changed. Consider the experiences of Jacob with his heavenly vision, Moses with the burning bush, and Paul on the road to Damascus. Have you ever had such an experience? If so, did you recognize it as an encounter with me?

Do you have any religious affectations? These are mannerisms that you may acquire to display your Christian identity. Does this seem innocent enough and even desirable? Yet when you consider the things that I criticized in relation to all the things that I could have criticized, religious affectations rank very highly. Consider my remarks to the Pharisees about the things they did for pretense. I made a strong distinction between things done for outward appearance to be seen of men and things done in secret to please your Father in heaven. This distinction is just as valid today.

Do you think of your salvation as a credential? Once you are saved, do you expect everyone, and particularly believers, to take you seriously? In like manner do you consider yourself obligated to take seriously all of your fellow believers, no matter what they say? Do you find any support for this in the Bible? I accept all who call on my name, but that does not qualify them as teachers. You are called to accept your fellow believers but only to follow me. You are not to judge others on the basis of their positions, but you don’t have to accept them as revealed truth either. 

Have you ever been accused of magical thinking? This is a common accusation from those who reject the whole concept of the supernatural out of hand. Yet this leaves them in an awkward position. It gives them the burden of explaining how the material world came into being, spontaneously and unbidden, but their problems don’t stop there. They would also have to explain the order and structure of the world, and the existence of plant, animal, and human life through random undirected events. They would also have to explain the intricate relationships between them.

What is your view of the world? This common term refers to the planet but it has many connotations and special ones for Christians. This term has been grouped with the flesh and the devil, implying that all of these are evil. Yet I also speak of the world in terms of redemption. I was not of this world but you can be in the world and not of it. Do you see your church as a fortress against the world; the Kingdom of God within four walls? This is a tiny fraction of all things. Are you willing to live in a fortress and give the rest away? I wasn’t.

Do you value your freedom? Why? I tell you to stand fast in the liberty in which I have made you free and not to be entangled again in the yoke of bondage. Do you view your liberty as a basis for unrestricted action or as the means by which you can fulfill your destiny? These are very different. The first centers around you, and the second around finding my purpose and plan for you. I have given you liberty, and yet I still tell you to lay down your life and pick up your cross and follow me.

Do you think of authority as a position in the hierarchy obtained by ordination or appointment? This is one approach, with the attendant offices and titles. This results in a visible and fixed structure of power, but is it the only one? Have you ever observed anyone who exercised authority because they were right, whether or not they held title or office? This is called moral authority, and anyone can do it. Consider my own life.