No Excuses!

    An excuse has been defined as the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.  A farmer asked his neighbor if he might borrow a rope.  “Sorry,” said the neighbor, “I’m using my rope to tie up my milk.”  “Rope can’t tie up milk.”  “I know,” replied the neighbor, “but when a man doesn’t want to do something, one reason is as good as another.” 
    All of us are tempted to make rather ridiculous excuses to others and sometimes even to God.  If we would stop and examine our excuses we would discover how ridiculous most of them sound.  Someone took the time to collect a few choice excuses that have been given to cops in relationship to automobile accidents: “An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car then vanished.  I had been driving my car for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had the accident.  I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law, and headed over the embankment. The pedestrian had no idea which direction to go so I ran over him. Suddenly a tree was there where no tree had been before.”  Most excuses are invented on the spot and they are obvious. 
    Once a Christian was encouraging a friend to become a Christian and his excuse was that he could not understand the Bible.  He said, “I would become a Christian but the Bible is too difficult for me to understand.”  The Christian then asked him if he understood how clouds picked up water from the sea then deposited it upon the earth in the form of fresh water, snow, ice, sleet, or hail.  The friend said, “No!  That’s impossible to know.”  The Christian replied, “Well, that’s the way it is with serving the Lord.  A person can’t understand everything about God or His Word, but we accept Him by faith and enjoy the benefits.  The key is to believe Him by faith and to accept Him as your Lord.”  His friend got the message and accepted Christ. 
    An illustration is given us by Jesus: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations.  When all was ready, he sent his servants around to notify the guests that it was time for them to arrive.  But they all began making excuses.  One said he had just bought a field and wanted to inspect it and asked to be excused.  Another said he had just bought five pair of oxen and wanted to try them out.  Another had just been married and for that reason couldn’t come.  The servant returned and reported to his master what they had said.  His master was angry and told him to go quickly into the streets and alleys of the city to invite beggars, crippled, lame, and blind…For none of those I invited first will get even the smallest taste of what I had prepared for them” (Luke 14:16-24).  This is a strong message. 
    Excuses don’t hold water with God.  He knows the heart of an excuse.  He sees the underlying intent and priority.  He’s not deceived by an excuse.  He knows that when we want to do something, time or no time or money or no money, we will do it without excuse.  J.C. is pastor of Joy Christian Ministries W. Sac.

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