What's Your Excuse?

Proverbs 22:13

The lazy man says, "There is a lion outside!

I shall be slain in the streets!"

The world is full of excuses, it seems. Ask someone to do something, you'll hear why they can't. Tell someone your dreams, they know why it won't work. There is an excuse for just about anything.

Jesus tells a parable in which people give various excuses for not attending the most important social event of the season. A rich man's son is getting married, and all the neighbors are invited. But when the day of the celebration arrives, hear their justification for not attending:

"I have just bought a piece of property, and must now go check it out. Please excuse me."

"I have just bought a yoke of oxen, and must now test them out. Please excuse me."

"I have just married a wife myself, and just cannot go. Please excuse me."

I'm reminded of a phrase we used when I was a kid--There's no excuse for you!

Would you really buy something as important as a house or car without inspectinjg them first? And why should your own recent nuptials keep you from celebrating someone else's? What it comes down to is this--those people just didn't want to go, so they found a reason not to.

Someone once said, "Every day is a gamble! Being born is a gamble!" Well, I'm not to sure about the gambling part, but there are dangers that we all must face, risks that we have to take every day. Some of the greatest rewards come from take a step outside your door and seeing where it leads. But sometimes its easier to think of an excuse not to.

Like the man who doesn't want to work, or go to the market, or attend church, or wherever it was someone wanted him to go. He wouldn't step outside, because there was a possible danger that might involve him, and he'd rather not be bothered. So he creates a justification not to.

What keeps us from doing the things that we should do, from doing the things God wants us to do? People employ them all the time, but like another wise philosopher once said--Excuses are like armpits; everyone's got one or two, and they both stink." I'll tell you this: God doesn't want our excuses, our reasoning, or our justifications. He just wants our obedience.