It’s now 4:24am—technically Friday morning. Which is why I’m writing this now with no shame.

Today (you know, from yesterday around 10am until now) has been a crazy day of planning and execution all at once. If you read this blog regularly, you probably already know about the Cut-Offs project that’s currently in the works. But in case you don’t I’ll explain.

The Cut-Offs project is a social photography experiment in which I am attempting to capture at least 100 different individuals wearing cut off jean shorts. Then, together we’ll sport our pictures on whatever social network we belong to—namely, Facebook.

Well, to kick off this project, I’m hosting a bit of a house party (My parent’s were gracious enough to lend their home, which should offer enough space for such an event). Well as it usually is arranged, the house doesn’t lend itself well to being a studio as well as hoppin’ party spot. So, I’ve just about had to dismantle the whole inside of the house to get things ready to go.

In addition to that, I will be feeding my guests with my own personal brand of pizza (Something else you will know I have a passion for, if you read this regularly). So, in addition to taking apart the house and transforming it into a model of photographic efficiency, I also spent a good portion of the day making an outrageous amount of pizza dough and pizza sauce.

So, to commemorate the completion of the day, I thought I’d share a couple photos of the madness. Enjoy.

Luke 21:12-15:

“…they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.”

Settle it in our minds not to meditate on how to answer. I find it compelling that Jesus felt that it was important to include this. After all, he could have easily left it out without necessarily altering the meaning. But he didn’t. Which to me, means that it could really use some reflection.

I think that there’s a number of possibilities in there. Probably something about pride. Something about reliance on God. But the idea that keeps sticking in my mind right now is not convoluting the Spirit of God in us.

You get the impression from the full passage that the Spirit, in some sense, is going to kind of take over. It’s going to replace some natural capacity of ours with a supernatural one. The term knee-jerk reaction comes to mind. Perhaps it is that Jesus doesn’t want us convoluting the Spirit’s knee-jerk reaction in us with something contrived of our own minds.

Really any way you look at it, it seems bizarre to me. And in terms of language, there aren’t many times when we’re told not to think about something. But it sure says it here and that is worth thinking about.

I read this yesterday in Isaiah 7:9:

If you are not firm in faith
you will not be firm at all.

This is a message from God to Ahaz, the king of Judah, through the prophet. An offensive had been mounted by some of its opponents. Judah was gripped with fear and God’s message to them was, “do not fear”, because they will not stand. This little verse is the closing statement.

I couldn’t help but wonder what exactly he had in mind. Of course, there are the obvious contextual reasons. But I think it stands all on its own also.

In the case of Judah and her opponents, their choices were to place their faith in their military strength, their cunning or their ability to run faster than their opponents could chase. Or, to trust God who had made promises to them about this very situation.

People are constantly shifting and changing. One minute our mind may be made up, the next we might be conflicted. One minute we may be courageous, the next minute a coward. One minute our bodies may be strong and healthy, the next weak and ill. God, on the other hand, is none of these things. He is steady and unchanging. If we aren’t placing our trust in God, the only place we have to put it is in ourselves.

In all that God was saying to the king Ahaz, his message about faith is almost certainly for us also.

Unless our faith is in something stable, then we cannot be stable in anything.

In Have you ever read Romans 14:13? It goes like this:

“Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother”

I think I hear this verse (and others like it) way too often. It’s usually used as kind of a blanket verse. A trump card to avoid tense situations. Billy is drinking a beer and Betty thinks it’s wrong. Rather than Billy and Betty having to deal with the tension of holding differing convictions, it’s argued that Billy shouldn’t drink beer because it’s causing Betty to ‘stumble’.

Is it? Or is her sense of right and wrong taking offense at Billy’s differing opinion? They’re not the same thing.

Admittedly, this is not a topic that I have thoroughly thought through. There are still quite a few questions and points of contention in my mind over it. But the overarching issue, I think, is relatively clear.

Consider the verse, Proverbs 27:17:

Iron sharpens iron,
and one man sharpens another.

Is it possible for iron to sharpen iron without friction? No, of course not. Friction is more or less why iron can sharpen iron. Likewise, I can’t think of too many times that a brother refined me apart from my own convictions rubbing against theirs. For us to benefit from one another as believers, our sense of right and wrong must be offended some times.

In Romans 14, Paul does not want to cause a brother to stumble by eating meat. After all, many of his Jewish brothers would be violating their conscience by eating meat. But eventually, they did eat meat. There are very few Christians today who refrain from eating meat for biblical reasons. How’d this happen? At some point someone’s convictions must have been offended causing them to reconsider their resolves, ultimately allowing them to change their views and eat meat with a clean conscience.

In the situation with Billy and Betty, Billy shouldn’t entice Betty to drink beer, nor should he drink beer if Betty is feeling the urge to do so—thus violating her conscience. However, I don’t think Billy has much obligation to Betty’s preferences beyond that.

If we allow the definitions of ‘stumbling block’ and ‘offended’ and ‘conscience’ to be convoluted, then we’ll be restricted from just about everything. There aren’t many topics that Christians unanimously agree on and how specifically to live this life is far far far from being on that list. That’s okay. But it means that topics like this one shouldn’t be carelessly understood and hidden behind.

It usually results in more irritated conflict and threatens to stunt our spiritual and relational growth.

I was thinking about my father’s lawn the other day. He’s in what appears to be an eternal struggle with it. Every year toward the end of the summer he rips up all the grass and puts down new seeds. Then, when the following summer comes, he’s careful to nurture the sprouting grass.

This usually works for at least several weeks. His lawn will look fantastic. Then, some weeds and crabgrass will begin to creep in. That’s about the time that he breaks out the weed killer. But at this point, it’s usually more or less over for the summer. Although a lot of the weeds will retreat, the lawn seems to be out of energy. It’s only a matter of time before very large patches seem to stop growing and sooner or later give way to pale green that eventually turns brown.

Of course, at this point it’s just a waiting game until the whole thing gets ripped up again and he resolves that “next year will be the year”.

I’m not a home owner with a big piece of green grass to take care of. Maybe if I was I’d understand a bit more easily. But regardless, you’ve got to admire his resolve to keep at it.

But it’s the fickle behavior of the lawn that had me thinking about the nature of sin and discipline. My father wants a rich green lawn. Which, if he wants, he’s going to have to put his sweat into. But the weeds take no work at all. In fact, they’re entirely uninvited. Yet, without any effort whatsoever, they come in and thrive.

Isn’t this just like life? The bad things in life come easily. Sin takes nothing to achieve. Without any attention, it will excel and increase. While on the flip side, the truly good never comes easily. Our virtues and disciplines will only come if we work for them. If we seek them.

And, like my father’s lawn the bad spoils the good. It wouldn’t be enough to have rich green grass, if all throughout there were dandelions and weeds. In the same way, we can’t just seek the good, we have to reject the bad.

Interestingly enough, like my father’s lawn, it’s going to be an uphill battle that’s not going to get easier in this life time. I suppose we just trust that it’s worth the effort.

I always find it so bizarre thinking about the ancient practice of idol worship. Not because my own faith doesn’t look a bit crazy to people on the outside. But I think ancient idol worship is really out there.

Check out this reference to it in Isaiah. This language is common. Isaiah 2:8:

Their land is filled with idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their own fingers have made.

Imagine starting with a block of wood and a knife. Imagine carving out the likeness of some animal or cultural symbol. Then, imagine setting it up on a mantle and trusting that the thing you just made is going to somehow produce food and money and health and comfort.

It would seem like logic would have to kick in somewhere in there and you’d have to say, “wait a second, I actually made this thing. I knew it before it was my god.”

I think most of us would like to think we’ve risen above this behavior. But I think most of us know it’s not entirely true. Christians and non-Christians alike make idols out of things all the time. We’ve just become better, as a society, at disguising it.

Do you ever have times when you’re in a conversation with someone and you find yourself thinking about what you’re going to say next rather than what they’re actually saying? I know that I do sometimes. In spirited debate it’s a little more reasonable to do this kind of thing. After all, there is a sense of competition in debate.

But what about when someone is sharing something personal; do you ever zone out and think about all the great advice you’re going to give? Well, reading yesterday in Proverbs 18, I was immediately reminded of this. Verse 2:

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
   but only in expressing his opinion.

Then again in verse 13:

If one gives an answer before he hears,
   it is his folly and shame.

I’d like to be able to say that I don’t suffer from this tendency. But that would be a lie. Unfortunately I do. At least some of the time. But something I find especially interesting is the way Proverbs pitches the thought.

Sure, it’s not very loving to others to be constantly itching to hear your own voice and opinion. But that’s not really the angle it takes. It’s also bad for me on some other level entirely.

When I’m having a personal conversation with someone, it’s not only rude for me to zone out of what they’re saying to think of how I’ll respond, but in some way it also hurts me. Possibly by bolstering ego? Robbing the heart’s opportunity to empathize? Or simply allowing selfishness room to rule? I don’t know, it could be all kinds of things, I suppose.

But any way your look at it, Solomon is right and I don’t want to be a fool.