The Cutting Room Floor

Last night as were teaching Catalyst class moving from our study on the 6 important “stages” of Christ, (crucifixion, death, burial, quickening, resurrection and seatedness) I found myself thinking about how much “junk” I allowed in my life that spoke of something less than it “was done” or finished. The result of my “diet” was I encouraged others to engage in the same behavior or mixture.

Last night our sound guy, Chris though that the title of my message ought be “no more squishy gospel.” Perhaps that is truth. What I said was that I needed to lean on something that had integrity. I used the example of the difference between squishy “store bought air” bread and homemade bread. The difference is that one (the first) you could roll up in a ball while the second was so “thick” you could not “squish” it. I need, and so do you, a gospel that is not squishy. We need to be able to look at what we read or believe about Jesus and not be afraid.This morning as I meditated on some of the conversations of last night as well as my personal thoughts on it, I saw this picture. A cutting room floor of old. Many will not remember that. Essentially what an editor did was he took the video and through multiple views or previews he allowed for the cutting or the removal or certain scenes, etc.. The end result was the video you would see.

I am not a good editor as I often find it to be an “emotional process” in the realm of things. I will hold on to things. Now the interesting part is that the editor is ultimately the final decision before a movie or video is melded together. To get to the end, the artist, photographer, videographer or writer must have trust in the person who is doing the cutting. The editor must have the heart of the artist. We have heard too often of the “un-recovered” tapes or photos of artist or musician so and so. (Right now we are hearing about a Beatles demo tape that sat on a shelf for 40 plus years.) So much for those who make the decision…

We must be willing to evaluate our “Gospel” in light of the truth and the heart of the Father. Too often we have heard a person tell of what they have believed. Frequently it is ignorance or lack of knowledge about a scripture, but more so, it is about not understanding the heart of the Father. That is why you hear me say “people respond to others predicated on how they perceive the Father’s love for them.”God is not afraid of our edits. He is not afraid you and or I will be deceived. I trust the Holy Ghost to walk with me.

In this case I recommend we boldly evaluate each and every “truth” we have ever heard or believed. When we begin to ask the “why we do this” or “what does that really mean” we will probably come up with some interesting answers. 🙂

And that is OK.