Excuses, Excuses, Excuses & More Excuses - God Forgive Us!
No Excuses - There is a Job To Do
We Can Do It With Jesus Holding Our Hand - And NOTHING without Him!
How To Drown A Skyscraper
Do you ever yearn to find the simplest way through life and its tasks only to discover that simple is not usually best? In the long term it does not work, but for the moment it appears handsomely convenient. I speak of a six letter word, “excuses.” It is so easy to make excuses. Every corner and circumstance of our day is overladen with them. In the real world there are books to be written, bridges to be built, jobs to be found, education to be gotten, and many other tasks which cannot be numbered or named. Humanity and the Creator cry for people with abilities (and we all have them) to rise and construct some better world for ourselves and others. However, within each of us is this gremlin, leaping at every turn of the way. Instead of books, bridges or buildings, there are reasons articulated, justifications given, and pretenses, pleas and apologies, which if they were water would drown a skyscraper!
No one ever excused his way to success. ~Dave Del Dotto
Luke 14:18-20 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him,I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have meexcused. (19) And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: Ipray thee have me excused. (20) And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore Icannot come. (KJV Bible)
Excuses clutter your path like leaves falling in the forests of late autumn. They are so easy to find, and if not, just as easy to invent. One man in the parable purchased a piece of ground, “and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.” The next had bought oxen which had to be yoked to the plow. The third found a wife, “Excuse me.”
Luke 14:21-24 So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then themaster of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into thestreets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. (22) And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hastcommanded, and yet there is room. (23) And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my housemay be filled. (24) For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. (KJV Bible)
We can find a hundred such excuses every day, and we can invent seven times seventy more. The text reveals that there is a task to be done, a great feast to be attended. It is an invitation not of convenience, but servitude and loyalty. It is a discerner of what our truest desires are. Here is the heart of all excuse making. Excuses unveil the primal nature of our hearts.
Whoever wants to be judge of human nature should study people’s excuses. - Hebbel
B ehind the curtain of all excuses lies selfishness and indolence. The excuses set before us in this story show the lack of energy and the lack of love of would be servants of Christ. A clash of priorities is set up between Christian service and secularity. It is not that buying land or livestock or finding a life partner is evil; it is not. It is, however, a demand of commitment to new devotions and duties.
Let me list some of the more common excuses I hear for neglecting Christian servitude in our churches:
1. Pastor, I forgot. (We all forget, but things of most importance to us are not forgotten!)
2. No one told me to go ahead. (There is protocol, but if God’s word says do it…?!”)
3. I didn’t think it was that important. (Why?)
4. I wanted to wait until the pastor comes back so that I could ask him. (The pastor can’t be with you 24/7 – The Holy Spirit is!)
5. I didn’t know we were in a hurry for it. (What if it were a ball game, and you were late!)
6. That’s the way we’ve always done it. (The last words of a dying church!)
7. That’s not in my department. That’s his job—not mine. (Sounds like Moses making excuse in the wilderness when he did not want to serve God –wake up!)
8. How was I to know? (For the Bible tells me so!)
9. I’m waiting on the LORD! (Good! But are you waiting or excusing yourself?)
The above list is not completely original with me, but it is repeated over and over, with many nuances and additions.
Don't make excuses - make good. ~Elbert Hubbard
I look at people (myself included!) when they make excuses, and say with a smile, “I understand,” and I do.
