WHAT IS YOUR PRIZED EXCUSE?

WHAT IS YOUR PRIZED EXCUSE?

 

God surely has heard every excuse under the sun, but if you’re a parent, teacher, ministry leader, or employer, you too have probably heard some mighty fine excuses. Have you ever felt like retorting, “Well, e-x-c-u-s-e me. Just do it!” How do you think God feels about an excuse you make for not following the advice you asked him for? To defuse the power of your favorite excuse and move past it, you must first acknowledge that it does have a hold on you. Focus today on confessing your most frequent and stubborn excuses for not doing what God or others ask of you.

 

EXCUSE ME!

 

What’s your typical excuse? The cost is too great. It’s too embarrassing. So-and-so would be better at it. People will laugh at me. I’m not that smart. I’m too busy. I’m not as spiritual as you think I am. I’m not good at that. It’s not my gift. I’m needed elsewhere. Do any of these excuses sound like you? I don’t know how. I’m too afraid. I’m too tired. It takes too long. It hurts too much. You don’t pay me enough to do all that. We’ve never done it that way before. We don’t have enough in the budget. Kathy Peel, founder and president of Family Manager, Inc., had to learn to repent of her beloved excuse.

 

KATHY PEEL EXCUSED HERSELF

 

Kathy is a popular speaker; frequent guest on television and radio programs; a contributing editor to Family Circle magazine; and author of seventeen books on topics including stress, healthy relationships, organizing your home, and surviving school holidays. Her unique assignment from God is to equip busy women to make their home a great place to be and to empower them in their role as mom and family manager. She says that the older she gets, the less it seems she knows—and the more she longs to know God and experience in deeper ways what it means to be his child.

 

At times, Kathy pulls out a clever excuse that goes like this: “I can’t do it, because it requires my full attention, thus preventing me from efficiently multitasking.” She says, “After all, not being able to multitask makes me feel like I’m wasting time! I would rather accomplish quickly the things that I have to do, so I have more time for the things I want to do.” Kathy is slowly learning that she misses opportunities to see and hear God and experience his presence and miracles when she is hurriedly crossing things off her “daily hit list.” She’s trying to slow down more regularly to enjoy the journey and to give important tasks her undivided attention.

 

She says, “I think we women have mastered the art of excuses. Any ol’ excuse will do for busy, tired ladies. I believe that the only cure for a preponderance of excuses is rest, and by that I mean, resting in the comfort and peace that our Lord offers to the weary.”

 

What Is Your Prized Excuse? Moses Had an Excuse

 

Moses feared that he did not speak well enough to represent God. He said: “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” Read Exodus 4:10–17. When, like Moses, have you tried to excuse your way out of an assignment?

 

SCRIPTURE TO PONDER

 

The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” [Literally, the oldest excuse in the Book!] (Genesis 3:12)

 

SUGGESTED PRAYER

 

Dear Lord, I, _________, do not want my life to be filled with excuses like,“That person you put here with me made me do it!” Today I pray that I will learn to recognize and chuckle at any and all excuses I make. I ask that you would keep me from excusing my way through life. I don’t want my excuses to steer me off the adventurous path you have mapped out for me.

 

So . . . What Insight, Prayer, or Action Step Has God Laid on Your Heart Today?