Excuses Only Satisfy Those Who Give Them

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Have Hope

by Jace Thompson

The man I look up to most on this Earth is my dad. He has been a pastor for my entire life. He is still my family’s pastor. We actually drive over an hour one way each Sunday to our little country church in Trion, Georgia, where he has pastored for over 30 years now! This is where God has chosen for him to be for so many years, and I am thankful to be able to hear him preach and sing praises like no other man can, in my opinion.

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 are completely out of our control, but how we handle those situations is all on us. We choose how we will allow each situation to define us. Making excuses for the situation does absolutely nothing to help bring us through it.

When making excuses, who really cares, right? An excuse only makes the person giving it feel better about the situation. It is a means to justify instead of taking responsibility. I worked in a management role for over 20 years. I used this quote many times. When I would ask about a task being completed and someone would give me an excuse, I would simply point to the sign of this quote I had posted on the wall. Their excuse didn’t change anything. The excuse didn’t complete the task. I didn’t want to hear an excuse. I wanted to hear, “I will get it done.” I respected them more for admitting they had fallen behind, taking responsibility, and working to improve than if they just gave me all of the excuses and expected me to simply overlook it.

How many times in our lives have we made excuses to God? “I can’t go to church today because…” “I can’t pray right now because……” “I can’t help my neighbor because…” Does God hear our excuse and simply say, “Okay, I can overlook that,” or does He expect us to take responsibility and do everything we can to honor Him? God wants to hear, “I am here, Lord; use me!” He does not want to hear, “You could use me, Lord, but not today because…” It may make us feel better at the time, but we are missing out on the many blessings that God has for us if we would simply follow His will instead of making excuses to follow our own.