Gò0dNews for Everyone Excuses Only Satisfy Those Who Give Them
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by Jace Thompson
he man I look up to most on this Earth is my dad.
me an excuse, I would simply point to the sign of this
He has been a pastor for my entire life. He is still
quote I had posted on the wall. Their excuse didn’t change
my family’s pastor. We actually drive over an hour
anything. The excuse didn’t complete the task. I didn’t want
one way each Sunday to our little country church in Trion,
to hear an excuse. I wanted to hear, “I will get it done.” I
Georgia, where he has pastored for over 30 years now! This
respected them more for admitting they had fallen behind,
is where God has chosen for him to be for so many years,
taking responsibility, and working to improve than if they
and I am thankful to be able to hear him preach and sing
just gave me all of the excuses and expected me to simply
praises like no other man can, in my opinion.
overlook it.
Of all of the services I have had the pleasure of hearing my dad preach, one stands out in my mind more than most: “Excuses Only Satisfy Those Who Give Them.” How many times do we make excuses for things in our lives? Who are we making these excuses to? Who are we making them for? When growing up, how many times did we do things wrong and have an excuse to give our parents or our teachers? Did the excuse fix the problem? Did it make the bad things go away? One of the biggest (and oldest) excuses is, “The devil made me do it.” This couldn’t be more wrong! The devil doesn’t MAKE us do anything. He is an influencer, a trickster, a bully, and a liar. But the devil cannot make us do the things we do. One of the greatest gifts God gave us was “free will.” We make the choices that determine our lives. Sure, situations arise that
How many times in our lives have we made excuses
are completely out of our control, but how we handle those
to God? “I can’t go to church today because…” “I can’t
situations is all on us. We choose how we will allow each
pray right now because……” “I can’t help my neighbor
situation to define us. Making excuses for the situation does
because…” Does God hear our excuse and simply say,
absolutely nothing to help bring us through it.
“Okay, I can overlook that,” or does He expect us to take
When making excuses, who really cares, right? An
responsibility and do everything we can to honor Him? God
excuse only makes the person giving it feel better about
wants to hear, “I am here, Lord; use me!” He does not want
the situation. It is a means to justify instead of taking
to hear, “You could use me, Lord, but not today because…”
responsibility. I worked in a management role for over 20
It may make us feel better at the time, but we are missing
years. I used this quote many times. When I would ask
out on the many blessings that God has for us if we would
about a task being completed and someone would give
simply follow His will instead of making excuses to follow
34 // July 2020
our own.
