Dale Cresap's blog

Do you see your talents and abilities as gifts from me? Perhaps you could think of them as gift certificates. Gift certificates are only beneficial when they are redeemed, and this is also true of the gifts I give you. Have you met those who have the potential to be leaders if they could get over their control issues? Or those who are empathetic, but only to themselves? Your gifts and talents are raw material, and for them to be employed in my service is not automatic. Are you willing to go through the process of redeeming your gifts that they may be employed in serving me?

Have you ever said, or heard others say, that we live in a fallen world? You only hear this in church. Do you use this to explain all the evil in the world? Are you willing to write the world off without regret because of this explanation? If you go by the original account, what actually changed at this event? Men were required to put forth effort to earn a living, and women had to put forth effort for childbirth. When I made the world, I declared that it was good. Was it no longer so after the fall? I created the man and woman in my image. Was this no longer true?

How do you respond to trauma? Do you see it only as an affliction to be endured? Who would welcome it in the moment? Yet can you see the benefits you have obtained by the difficulties you have endured? I have not promised that you would be able to avoid trials, but that when they were over they would strengthen, establish, and settle you. Can you get these things any other way? Trials can devastate you or make you stronger depending on how you view and respond to them.

Do you have a place that you think of as home? Everyone does, even if they don’t currently live there. For various reasons you may live elsewhere. Yet there is still a longing for home and you refer to this as homesickness. You have not been to heaven and the Bible does not give a precise description of what you will find there. You have heard the accounts of those who claim to have visited there and returned and there is a basis for being wary of these for there are things that eye has not seen nor ear heard, that are not possible to speak.

Do you call on me in times of trouble? Do you ask for my guidance in times of uncertainty? Only then? Have you seen me intervene to provide a way for you through difficulties, and provided direction in trying times? Do you think that it is only at these times that I should be involved in your life? I want to share your joys as well as your sorrows. Have you ever been faced with a multitude of pleasant alternatives and wondered which one was the best? Were you as eager to call on me then as you were in times of trouble? I can guide you to the best outcome for you in either case.

Do you buy new stuff? You can save money by buying things second hand at garage sales or thrift stores but who doesn’t prefer new if money isn’t a consideration? What about your faith? Is it new or is it second hand? The founders of the faith had direct encounters with God. Can this be mass-produced? Churches make  a version of the original available to anyone who accepts their beliefs and teachings. This is not a bad thing and everyone needs a community. Yet who would argue that this is equivalent to the experience of the founder?

Where does your identity come from? You notice that one is a stamp collector, one a football fan, one hikes in the mountains and one catches fish. One is a conservative and one a liberal. One a Baptist and one a Methodist. One a musician and one a builder. One makes money and another makes art. Did they choose these things? Most cannot give a reasonable explanation for why their lives went in this direction even if it is well-established. Is it possible that these things chose them? Are you familiar with the promise that I will give you the desires of your heart?

What is the purpose of prayer? To get me to do what you want? There are Bible verses that would support this viewpoint and this is the practice of some believers, but does it bother you to hear it described like this? If this is the correct approach then which of us is God? Do you understand prayer as communication? Communication can be one-way, such as radio or TV broadcast, or two-way, such as face-to-face conversation. Come and let us reason together applies to more than the forgiveness of your sins.

Have you heard the passage that says, fear not those who can kill the body only, but fear him who can destroy both the body and soul in hell? This may be sound logical, but it still expresses a grim perspective. Yet it is logically valid to change the perspective to a positive one. Do not follow after and admire those who can reward you only with money, or popularity, or the fleeting rewards that are available in this life only.

Is money the only thing that motivates people? You are fully immersed in a commercial economy for which the implied answer is yes. Failure to ponder this question is implicit agreement with the premise. Jobs (and people) are ranked monetarily. But the Bible says woe to those who are rich, for it is hard for them to enter the Kingdom of heaven, and the poor are rich in faith, and you cannot serve God and mammon. Is there an alternative? What about an economy of life satisfaction? What would that look like? You don’t have to wait for the government and the economists to implement this.