Excuses, Excuses...

But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said,  “I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me”~ Luke 14:18 NIV

Recently, I was doing research for a class and I came across some information that is both validation of the untiring resourcefulness of the human spirit— and sad evidence of the rapid decay of Western civilization.

 In the course of my research I stumbled upon some websites dedicated entirely to the art of excuse making. The websites offer interested parties a list of viable excuses to use in any number of different scenarios. The better ones even offer guidance to their users concerning the potential pitfalls of using a specific excuse.  

For instance: the excuse you’ve had a death in your family is guaranteed to relieve you from employment obligations for at least a week. However, if you intend on playing the death card you need to be aware that death is a fairly easy event to verify. The site prudently counsels the user to keep in mind that most employers consider fabricating the demise of a loved one to be something akin to the unpardonable sin.

I found these sites to be both fascinating and disquieting. I was intrigued with their straightforward counsel and the apparent absence of shame on the part of the users. I was appalled by the existence of these services. They go a long way in validating the notion that we have become a culture of conscienceless slackers.

It all got started sometime around the middle of the last century when society began the practice of renaming behaviors and the culture of excuse making was born. In 1956 the medical community dubbed alcoholism a disease; prior to the rechristening it was believed to be a sinful character defect. Today if you attempt to argue that alcoholism is a disease folks acquire by their own choosing you WILL be branded an ignorant hater.

Out of control offspring are no longer badly behaved or poorly disciplined. The poor children are all casualties of attention deficit disorder or oppositional defiant disorder. People who refuse to work are no longer lazy or shiftless; they are “undereducated” and lacking “opportunities”. Even the punitive term “deadbeat dad” has gotten a makeover; runaway fathers are now known as “baby-daddies”.

Thanks to the inventiveness of the medical community there is now a rational, scientific, or genetic explanation for every behavior under the sun. It is no longer tolerable to slap an ugly label on anyone or anything.   

I confess I found myself feeling somewhat smug as I perused these websites. As a Christian I feel I am better than many about taking responsibility for my personal choices. My self-satisfaction was short lived when it hit me that Christian excuse making (including my own) tends to center almost entirely on the spiritual rather than the worldly.

Most Christians would never consider making up a story about the death of a family member to escape work obligations. However, we are sometimes tempted to make more subtle excuses in our spiritual lives. Here is a selection of some of the better excuses I have made and heard through the years…

I can’t forgive.  

I’m not called to that.

I’ve been hurt by Christians so I don’t__________________________  

I don’t have time to study the Bible.

Jesus didn’t speak out on that so it must be okay.

It’s not gossip; I’m venting.

I don’t have enough money to be generous.  

It’s not my fault; I wasn’t raised in a Christian home.

My research on the subject of excuses began because I was teaching on Hebrews chapter four. Verse thirteen caught my attention; it provides some scary counsel concerning the legitimacy of excuses.  

 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account~ Hebrews 4:13 NIV

The truth is that nothing in this world is hidden from God. Every thought, activity and action is wide open to His scrutiny. This is a fearsome truth: God sees through our excuses and discerns the true motivations behind our thoughts and behavior, we can’t feed God a line about why we can’t change and assume He will buy it. The justifications we use to rationalize our behavior may feel solid and might even elicit sympathy from the rest of the world but they won’t hold up under the examination of the Almighty.

I find it oddly encouraging that God is so mindful of the human race. God understands the good and the bad that makes us who we are and He loves us. God is like the parent who understands their child better than the child understands himself.

God’s ultimate goal is to mold us into the image of Jesus and that means empowering us to see our excuses for what they are so we can overcome our shortcomings. God’s love for the human race is so profound that if we are willing to work with Him, He will enable us to see past our flimsy excuses and empower us to make the changes necessary to become the very best version of us imaginable.

The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth, he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds~ Psalm 33:13-15 ESV