Excuses, Excuses (Originally posted February 21, 2014)
“We are all guilty of making excuses at one time or another. Sadly, one of the areas where we give excuses is in not doing the will of God. Through the years, Christians have devised ingenious excuses for not doing what God would have them do.
Excuse making is as old as man himself. In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve made excuses for their violation of God’s commands. In Exodus 4, Moses gave excuses for not being able to lead God’s people (The excuses Moses gave are very similar to the ones some Christians give today for not teaching the gospel or for not developing their talents) (See verse 1 and 10).
In the Parable of the Great Banquet in Luke 14:16-24, Jesus gave a great lesson on how to combat excuse making. In the parable, people were invited to a banquet but they immediately began to make excuses for not being able to attend. The first excuse was given by a man who needed to tend to his property (vs. 18). People today use the same excuse. They say, “Excuse me for not serving God, but I’m too busy building a home, or remodeling my house, or car shopping, etc…” The second excuse given related to work and livelihood (vs. 19). People today claim work and maintaining a lifestyle as more important than God. The third excuse that was made dealt with relationships (vs.20). How many people through the years have used family as an excuse for not serving God? Many will not put God first because their spouse doesn’t believe or they don’t like the preacher or they are arguing with another Christian.
Today we have a new arsenal of excuses being thrown around such as, “I can’t help it” or “I was born that way,” “I’m not as bad as other people I know” or “Everyone else is doing it.” Sadly, these are some of the very excuses given by those who profess to love God. And the conclusion is not pretty for those who make excuses. No excuses will be accepted on the day of judgement (vs. 24).
Please join with and help me work towards banishing all worthless excuses and making God a priority in our lives.”
As the post above says, we are ALL guilty of boarding the excuse train from time to time. I’m not sure if it’s ingrained in our human nature or simply a matter of finding the easiest path through a task or circumstance, but we are very good at making excuses, especially in the arena of following God.
From the creation of mankind, we have adapted our excuses to make ourselves comfortable and make life as smooth as possible with the least amount of speed bumps along the way. It would probably be safe to say that the society we live in now even outright breeds excuses when we see the most famous of men and women making them on a daily basis.
When I penned the post above, I was mindful of the excuses that I make in my own life from time to time. Excuses not to try my best or to skips corners. Excuses not to do the right thing when the right action is blatantly obvious. Even excuses why I don’t have time to serve the Lord the way I should. I can say that I’ve gotten better at not making these types of excuses in my life. And that is what growing as a Christian is all about. It’s about destroying all excuses and putting God at the forefront of our lives no matter the cost.
Joe Butler
Faith and Footsteps 
Great post. Very convicting. I often make excuses for not reading and praying in the morning. I have to really fight to not let Satan get a foothold. Thanks for this, Joe.