NO EXCUSE SUNDAY.
I am always amused by the different excuses people come up with to explain their actions or different situations.
Have you ever noticed how we can come up with some really funny excuses? People must put a lot of effort and thought into their excuses.
Here is just a sampling of excuses people make for various things.
I can’t come to work today, my fish is sick and I have to take it to the vet.
Cynthia can’t come to school today because she is sick and I had her shot.
I am sorry I missed church last week; there was a sermon on the radio.
Please excuse Margaret from Jim, she is administrating.
Nancy will not be at work today, her lungs are too full to be outside.
This one can only be used for not showing up to work on a Monday. I forgot to carry in the Sunday paper, so when I saw the paper there, I thought it was Sunday. By the time I realized it was Monday, it was too late, so I stayed home.
We can come up with all sorts of excuses for the things we do. Some are legitimate and some are not.
Perhaps in some people’s minds the excuses we use will continue to work but sooner or later we are going to have to take responsibility for who we are and what we do.
We can’t keep blaming our behavior on other things.
I have declared today as “No Excuse Sunday” so that we can all fulfill God’s purpose for our lives.
PRAYER
Father, open my eyes to see Your Word.
Open my ears to hear.
Open my mind to understand.
And open my heart so I may receive Your Word today.
AMEN
Is there such a thing as a good excuse? Probably not.
The human nature jumped on the idea of finding excuses to cover our short falls.
Adam and Eve, after eating the forbidden fruit started coming up with excuses. Adam blamed the woman and he blamed God and Eve blamed the serpent.
Since that time, the instincts of humanity is to shift the blame to other people, places or things. One could say that we live in an excuse-oriented society.
How many times have you heard someone say they cannot change? Change is always happening but people come with up with excuses not to change.
They say things like, “If God loves me as I am, then why should I change?” Or, “God doesn’t change why should I?” Or, “Why should I change, everyone else should change.” Or they say, “Well it is different for me because,” and then give you a list of reasons why it is different for them.
One person defined an excuse as “the meat of a lie covered by the skin of reason.”
Excuses are generally self-focused and self-absorbed so that a person can justify themselves.
Do we need to go to such great efforts to justify ourselves? No, not if we are living up to our potential and destiny in God.
We would not need to be making such elaborate excuses for the way we are if we were living under the advice of the apostle Paul who said, “I press on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:14
As children of God we are called to be spiritual marksmen, aiming for the mark that God has set before us.
What happens sometimes is that people will try to adjust the mark to line up with where they are. They shoot the arrow and when it falls short they move the bull’s eye.
God sets the standards for us to aim at and those standards cannot be moved.
We try to move the standards by making excuses. When we make the excuses we end up living well below our full potential in Christ.
God has a purpose and a plan for each of our lives and the excuses we use when we fill short will rob us of our potential and hold us back from all that God wants to accomplish in us and through us.
There are 6 ways in which excuses will hold us back.
1. Excuses justify the need to not change.
If we are not changing we are not growing in the Lord. In Christ we are a new creation, sounds like change to me.
2. Excuses validate mediocrity.
Which do you prefer, the best or second best? God does not want us to settle for second best. His desire is to pour blessings into our lives, but those blessings will never come if we settle for second best.
I believe that my God is not a god of mediocrity. His plans for me are the greatest plans.
3. Excuses are self-focused.
They are full of I’s and me’s.
4. Excuses are a part of the language of victims.
They try to seek sympathy and pity from others because of the situation.
5. Excuses breed a culture of hopelessness.
One of the most depressing phases I can think of is the phrase, “I can’t.”
I hate that phrase, just ask my girls: It speaks out of hopelessness. When you speak out of hopelessness you are declaring a position of defeat.
When we feel hopelessness we are declaring that we cannot do all things through Christ who gives us strength. That is not what the Word says. The Word says, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13
When we begin thinking that we can’t we have already lost and that sense of hopelessness can be overwhelming which will lead to the 6th way excuses will hold us back.
6. Excuses put success out of reach.
When the going gets tough, excuses enable us to turn and run away. When we are running away we are not heading towards the awesomeness that God has planned for us.
A good example of how excuses hold us back is found in Luke 14. In this Scripture, Jesus tells a parable about a great feast that had a big invitation list.
As we read through this Scripture we will see how the excuses they used are not that much different then the ones people uses today when they fail to fulfill God’s purpose in their lives.
READ Luke 14:15-24
15When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God."
16Jesus replied: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.'
18"But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.'
19"Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.'
20"Still another said, 'I just got married, so I can't come.'
21"The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.'
22" 'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.'
23"Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. 24I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.'" Luke 14:15-24
Jesus shared this parable to show mankind that God has an abundance of provisions for all and an awesome plan of salvation for us.
Everyone was invited to this great banquet but when it came time to arrive, everyone started making excuses.
The first excuse we see is that of the property owner. He bought some land and he wanted to go and look at it.
I know the feeling, Debbie and I waited 23 years before we bought our first home. I don’t know how many times we drove past our place before we closed on it.
This guy bought some land and wanted to go and look at it.
Wait a minute; he bought it before looking at it? Who in their right mind would do such a thing? Hopefully he looked at it first.
There is nothing wrong with buying property and making investments. As a matter of fact it is a wise thing to do. The problem comes when those things begin to draw you away from the things of God.
The problem comes when those things begin to be an excuse for you to miss God’s mark and purpose in your life. That is the point that Jesus is making here.
The possessions we have can weigh us down and become excuses that keep us from fulfilling God’s purpose for us.
This man made an excuse and he missed out on the blessings of the banquet.
The second excuse comes from the rancher. He bought five oxen and he needed to go try them out. He was a farmer, a rancher, that was his occupation.
His occupation became the basis for his excuse.
Our vocation and career and even our recreation can be the excuses we use to miss the mark that God has for us.
Now let me make it clear, there is nothing wrong with having a career, working is a Biblical principle, if you don’t work, then you don’t eat, and there is nothing wrong with recreation.
The problem comes when those things are not in line with God’s plans for our lives and when those things take you away from God’s plan and purpose. That is when they become an excuse and that excuse prevents us from using our gifts and talents for the Lord.
The third excuse came from a man who had just gotten married. That lucky guy!
He has an original excuse; he can’t leave the wife alone. I’ll let you fill in the blanks on this one!
It is truly sad when we allow the relationships that God has blessed us with become the excuses that keep us from reaching the mark that God has set for us.
Our relationships must never conflict with God’s plans and purposes.
If they are in conflict then what we done is put God in one box and our relationships in another box. They should all be in the same box.
We cannot adjust the mark.
So what is the final outcome and how do we apply it to our lives.
Let’s read the last part again.
21"The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.'
22" 'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.'
23"Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. 24I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.'" Luke 14:21-24
None of the people who were first invited came to the banquet, which means that not one of them experienced the blessings of the man who invited them. They never got to taste the wonderful meal that was prepared; they never got to enjoy the entertainment or the fellowship.
To be invited to a banquet such as this was a great honor and those who were invited and did not come; they missed out on all the good stuff.
So the master gives the word and sends his servant out to invite everyone and anyone he can. He said, “Don’t take no for an answer.”
The message is clear.
God had sent His promise of salvation to the people of Israel through the prophets, but the people did not accept the invitation. So God sent His Son Jesus to invite everyone and when many refused His invitation, Jesus told us to go and invite everyone to share in God’s blessings.
God’s purpose and plans for us is two fold.
First, He wants all people to be saved.
3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:3-4
Second, He wants all who are saved to be blessed.
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
These two things are the God-given destiny of the people who choose to accept His invitation.
That is why is important for us to stop making excuses for the way we are or the way we are not, stop making excuses for why we are not living up to our God-given potential and destiny, and start hitting the mark that He has set for us.
“I press on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14
God has set the mark so we can hit the mark. He has given us everything we need so that we can be without an excuse.
Let’s determine today to make every day a no excuse day.
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