Beyond the Photos: Lessons from Luke on Home Buying, AI, and making excuses.

Hidden Flaws in Online House Hunting

BEFORE: Water Damage in Closet

If you followed along with our journey in my blog posts you know my family has been looking for a home for almost two years now. If you don’t know the story feel free to click the link to read “Fire Safety and protections from the flames”. My wife often jokes about house hunting with a home inspector, but it seems less funny lately. We’ve seen many appealing homes online, only to find major wall cracks or basement floors so uneven you can’t walk straight.

AFTER: Now just an empty closet

I once watched a video explaining how online image verification works, highlighting that AI struggled with identifying pictures. However, based on my experience comparing online home photos to real life, it seems AI can interpret and edit images well enough to conceal flaws that might deter potential buyers.

Lessons from Luke

I referenced Luke chapter 14 in “Considering the cost. Making a living and staying debt free while purchasing or building a home.”  Exploring the advantages of staying debt free involves carefully calculating the cost of a home and ensuring you have enough income to afford your future residence. Today, I’m returning to Luke chapter 14 to highlight the importance of seeing your home in person, test driving your car or tractor, and avoiding excuses. In verse 16, Jesus describes a man who held a large banquet and invited many guests. Matthew 22 refers to this as a wedding feast for the man's son. Regardless of the occasion, it was clearly a celebration not to be missed. Yet, everyone invited agreed not to attend, offering excuse after excuse. One claimed he had purchased a piece of land “sight unseen” and needed to go inspect it. Who would buy something without seeing it first? While this may have seemed unusual in Jesus’ time, today many people are purchasing homes based solely on photos, never visiting them beforehand. The pictures might look appealing, but what could possibly go wrong? My wife and I have experienced firsthand, during numerous walk-throughs, that reality sometimes reveals a disaster.

Modern Buying and Inspections

The next example presented by Jesus involves an individual who has purchased five yoke of oxen and requests being excused from the feast to examine them. In contemporary terms, this is similar to buying several vehicles or agricultural machines without inspecting them beforehand. While it is becoming increasingly common for dealerships to restrict test drives—partially due to concerns over potential misuse, it remains important to evaluate any vehicle prior to purchase. If necessary, request that the dealer allows you to have the vehicle assessed by a mechanic you know and trust. For instance, my wife once found a car she was very interested in, and although the dealer highlighted its maintenance records, our own inspection revealed issues that had not been addressed as claimed. Consequently, we chose to continue our search elsewhere.

Excuses and Invitations

The final excuse presented in the passage is that one of the invited individuals declined due to his recent marriage. The host, having prepared an elaborate feast, was understandably frustrated upon learning from his servant that all those initially invited had refused to attend. According to the passage, the master then directed his servant to invite the poor, the disabled, the lame, and the blind. When there were still available seats, the servant was instructed to go further, into the highways and hedges, to persuade others to join the celebration. Ultimately, those who were first invited were deemed unworthy to partake in the master's banquet.

Reflection on Priortities

As Tony Clark mentioned in his sermon “No Excuses” on Luke Chapter 14 All these men Jesus mentioned are just making excuses The first being my possessions are more important to me than accepting the invitation to Christ’s banquet. The second is that work is more important or his career being more important since oxen were used as a source of income much like a modern day tractor to cultivate fields or as a modern day truck to offer transportation of goods. The last excuse mentioned is family: Why can’t the man just bring his wife with him to the feast? What excuses do you make to yourself about why you can’t attend church, or why you can’t help with a youth group, or why you didn’t share the gospel with that coworker? Today at our Sunday School hour we viewed some pictures and worked our way though the Apostle Paul’s missionary journey. Paul traveled through Macedonia he visits Philippi, he travels to Thessalonica, onward to Berea and Athens, to Corinth, and to Ephesus. On his journey’s there were areas where what the modern day Olympic style events began. Great coliseums where people wrestled lions, tigers, and bears… OH MY! and where the Christians were tortured or fed to lions and where stories like the gladiator take place. Imagine coming to one of those places on game day and finding the coliseum practically empty because they are all out listening to Paul preach. Imagine today 2/8/2026 the day of the superbowl and the stadium being mostly empty because everyone is at church. What really happens though? “I can’t attend church today because I’m getting my superbowl party ready” “Church today is postponed or rescheduled for superbowl” How sad.

If only it were this easy and cost effective to fix missing shingles in real life.

AI and Real Estate Advice

Now back to AI enhanced online photos of homes. What excuses are the people posting these pictures telling themselves that this is okay to do to people. Perhaps one is the buyers aren’t going to come look at it anyway. The WV Real Estate Commission stated that one of the biggest complaints they get from buyers is attributed to buying “sight unseen” and the next is derived from “no home inspection” or “waiving the inspection contingency.” My advice to you is to go and look at the property you are buying, don’t make excuses, go see it! Have a home inspection and septic inspection if the home has septic system. And finally if you absolutely have to waive your inspection contingency you haven’t waived the right to an inspection, you have only waived the ability to back out if something is wrong. I’m not sure why you’d do this, but you can still have the property inspected.

Stop Making Excuses: Ask the Questions

Don’t be afraid to ask your home inspector questions about things. I have heard some home inspectors won’t let their clients attend the inspections. I would rather my client was there so I can show them in person what I found rather than just a picture in a report. Now with AI there are things in the works to help eliminate or at least warn a potential buyer that the photos were enhanced with AI but things move slowly. Your best line of defense is to go see it yourself and have the property inspected.

Conclusion

In a world where technology can easily distort reality and excuses are plentiful, it is more important than ever to seek truth and act with integrity. Just as we are called to inspect what we buy and not rely solely on appearances, Jesus calls us to examine our own hearts and lives. The message of Luke 14 reminds us that excuses—whether about possessions, work, or family—can keep us from accepting the greatest invitation of all: Repent and trust the gospel: believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He died for our sins and God rose him from death to life everlasting. Turn from old ways, trust Him, and follow His teachings without delay. Accept the new life He offers to all who believe.