"Excuses"

"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 me excused." Luke 14:18

I heard someone say that an excuse is just a lie wrapped in reason. We are full of excuses as to why we can't or won't do certain things. At times there are legitimate reasons why we can't but most of the time we are only making excuses. Our excuses are so "lame", they don't "hold water", like the people in this portion of scripture.

I want to ask you this morning- what is your excuse? What excuse are you using as to why you won't surrender your life to the Lord? What excuse are you giving as to why you won't turn your problems over to Him? What is your excuse for being disobedient to what He has told you to do? Making excuses goes back to the beginning of time. Adam tried to excuse his disobedience by blaming his wife. Aaron tried to excuse his creating the golden calf by pointing back to the peoples' demands and Moses' absence. Saul tried to cover up his disobedience through excuses by saying it was the people who did it.

Have you noticed that each of these examples tried to justify themselves by putting the blame on someone else? They tried to excuse themselves by making it someone else's fault. They tried to "pass the buck"- basically saying, "I would have obeyed if it had not been for someone else."

If you are making excuses as to why you won't receive the gift of salvation and eternal life that God has so freely provided for you through His Dear Son Jesus; if you are making excuses as to why you won't surrender the Lordship of your life over to Him; if you are making excuses as to why you won't repent and turn from your sins and receive Him as Savior and crown Him as Lord-- then on the day when you stand before the Lord and have to give and account, you will stand there alone with no one to blame but yourself. You won't have any excuses, you won't be able to blame any one else, you won't be able to point the finger of excuse toward someone. On that day, you will have to stand and give a reason and it won't be any one else's fault... and you won't have a good reason. So stop making excuses today. Stop turning your back on the gift of eternal life that God has provided for you... you don't have an excuse not to and you certainly don't have a good reason.

Have a great day. Stop making excuses... you have none.