None. I could stop there but then it would be a very short blog! Just why is it that we need or feel the need to make excuses for practically everything that involves our Christian lives? Do we really need to do that or is it for someone else's benefit? Perhaps you live with excuses as well as I have. It's not uncommon for the Christian to have a ready excuse for whatever circumstance may come up. "I don't have the time." "It's not my calling/job." "God doesn't really need me." "The dog ate my tithe." You have a list all of your own just as I do. Yet, there is no need for an excuse. God, in the Word, reminds us that we belong to him and it's our pleasure to serve him in anyway he may desire. The worst that can happen if we do this is we will be blessed so much that we cannot contain the blessings of God. Wait! You mean that when I make an excuse I deny myself the blessings of God? Yes. Yet, we provide all of the training for the next generation to make their list of excuses while skirting the responsibility of accountability. Then we wonder why people don't choose the blessings of God over the excuses. That's just crazy making!
We sometimes set our lives up to make excuses. Using phrases like, "I'll try." or "It might happen." along with "I can't promise you anything." Whenever we set ourselves up it belies the fact that our faith is waning. Without faith, the Bible says, we are unable to please God." Excuses is just another word for faithless. When I was a supervisor of 3 team leaders I told them I appreciated their effort and would like to ask one thing from them. I asked them to only bring a problem to me after they had come up with 3 potential solutions already in mind. There were very few problems brought to me and the team leaders self esteem sky rocketed. People have it in them to not make excuses if they only put their hearts and minds to it. With our children it's important to remember this. I have used a technique with my children and other's children that goes like this. They ask the question that is on their mind. Rather than giving them the answer right away, I ask them what their thoughts are on that question. Getting people thinking is a positive way to encourage rather than the "I don't know" or "Ask your father/mother." responses I hear all to often.
When the Christian exercises the excuse rather than faith, they destroy faith and replace it with a learned helplessness. I live in a world where I have to problem solve. Every vocation I've been engaged in (18 of them) has been a challenge to problem solve and to leave the position better off than when I first began. When I don't use excuses, those around me tend to not make excuses either. Rather than looking for the easy way out, no we are focused on what God intended us to be and do...Christians. We have a hope and not an excuse. We have life and not dead living. There is a difference. You can make a difference instead of an excuse. We all can. It's really not that hard. We have a God who has told us, affirmed in us and made it possible to make "all things work for good for those who are called by God for his good purpose. That doesn't mean we will have a road with no rocks or pot holes. This does mean the difference between living defeated or successful. The difference between the world and the Christian is that the Christian has made a stand to not make excuses. Remember it's always your choice.
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