The Role Of Excuses

“And they all with one consent began to make excuse…” Luke 14:18-20

They all had the same state of mind, and that is, they all chose to use an excuse to get out of accepting the invitation. Though they didn’t all use the same excuse, they all had the same reason for resorting to the use of their excuse.

Their excuses manifested their priorities. Rather than excuse themselves from their other involvements to come, they excused themselves from coming in order to do the other things. And rather than the excuse justify their decision, it just let the inviter know they preferred other things rather than accept the invitation.

But the issue was not about what the excuse was, but what an excuse does: “For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper,” v24. Whether the excuse was great or flimsy, it just eliminated the individuals from becoming a partaker. A person may have a good excuse for missing their flight, but that won’t get them on the airplane.

“Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” Luke 13:24 While an excuse may console the conscience, it will do nothing to meet the need of the soul. A runner who resorts to excuses instead of running, will lose out on every race.

Resorting to excuses distorts good judgment. Some have to have greater health to go to church than they need to go any place else. Often, it takes more sleep to allow one to go to church than it does to go to work. Some can’t get the right amount of clothes to get them to church. Some manage to get all of their other involvements taken care of, but are always too swamped to attend church.

Invoking an excuse instead of exercising faith, will just leave one without excuse as they stand in judgment before God. “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23

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Pronounced Clean

There are many weights that can beset us, some obvious and others deep within the subconscious, which are often the most weighty. There are enough burdens to bear in life without carrying weights around every day. God would have us to be a liberated people, whose burdens are lifted by His grace, due to being justified by faith. Mary is an example of how we are delivered by Divine pronouncements.

Mary was espoused to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Humanly speaking, she could think about Joseph having a wrong conclusion as to how she became with child. She felt responsible, as she would imagine his hurt and anger. All this would tend to arouse a guilt complex within her, even though she knew she had done nothing wrong.

How could she deal with this? By clinging to the Divine pronouncement that she was pure and had no guilt, that everything was justified in light of the Divine decree and power. By faith in God’s Word, she knew she was eternally vindicated of any and all guilt concerning this matter in God’s eyes. She could face whatever accusations came against her, with a free spirit of hope, knowing that just as God had performed the miracle of incarnating His Son into her womb by His power, He would also protect and vindicate her by His power. God’s pronouncement left her free of all guilt. She had nothing to be ashamed about. She was free to face Joseph with the confidence and warmth of tender love that only purity can provide.

One of the deep-seated weights that greatly affect God’s children is guilt. Some carry deep within them the guilt of things that happened many years ago, even before they were saved. It is not that God can’t forgive us or hasn’t forgiven us, but it is due to a failure to put our full faith in God’s pronouncement that He has forgiven and cleansed us.

Retaining guilt will plague us in our hearts and minds. We do not feel right toward others that love us. Our own guilt may drive us to find fault with others, hoping to make ourselves feel better if we can make others guilty also. Deep-seated guilt is usually what is behind a censorious, critical, suspicious spirit, being an attempt to deal with one’s own feelings of inadequacy.

To deal with guilt, we must let Divine pronouncements free us from it: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 Faith in God’s pronouncements leaves us free to have confidence and warmth of tender love that only innocence can provide. Claim it by faith and rejoice in it! “Be not faithless, but believing” and “Rejoice in the Lord, and again I say rejoice!”

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Making Things Right

“By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Hebrews 11:5

There are no hidden mysteries to faith that only a few can discover. But those who prevail by faith, do so due to faith. They seek to make things right with God by wholeheartedly responding to the will and way of God, revealed by God’s Word.

The earmark of Enoch’s spiritual success transcended a curiosity for the supernatural and just a hope for a heavenly abode after death. His heart was set on pleasing God.

Faith is a marvelous and miraculous thing in that it makes promises present and real, and unseen things visible. Thus Noah, by faith, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, while his contemporaries remained unconcerned and insensitive to his cause. This contrast is also visible amongst the ranks of professed Christianity, as many professed Christians exemplify the condition, “whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, who mind earthly things.”

Without the action of faith in perceiving the person and goodness of God, the individual will be beset with chasms too wide to cross to please God (in their own mind). Thus, many are trapped in a state lacking motivation to attain to the will of God. They are conscious of their lack but they don’t have the supremacy of God’s will dominating their heart. This is the result of personally choosing not to make the issues of life right with God in all respects.

There are many things warring against making things right with God in our lives: fleshly desires that conflict with God’s way; the fear of what others will think or say; and circumstances demanding that we take our life into our own hands, rather than rely on the plan and purpose of God.

But the failure to make things right with God on each issue as it arises, simply prevents the perfection of our faith. In James 2:21-24, we are told Abraham’s faith was made perfect when he chose to offer up Isaac. This means he would never have come to a right and full understanding about God’s will for his life, had he not exercised unquestionable obedience to make things right with God.

Had Abraham backed off instead, due to the great conflict of circumstances, he would have always questioned why God asked him to offer up Isaac. He would never have understood the Divine purpose of it all, and it would have become a matter of offense in his heart and mind.

The reason some do not “see” some teachings of God’s Word, and it does not suit, is because their response to God’s Word on that detail lacked the purpose to make all things right with God. As time passes, this offense against the truth becomes an offense in the individual’s own faith, even unto turning aside from the way of truth. Beware of not making all things right with God!

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Rebellious Children

“Hear, O heavens, and give ear O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.” Isaiah 1:2

No one knows the pride, stubbornness, and blindness of rebellion any more than God. God made Adam and Eve, gave them everything, yet they turned their back upon God to satisfy their own belly.

But, “Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord.” Isaiah 30:1 Rebellion is a combination of both willful and deliberate sin. It is not only disobedience to God’s Word, it is also defiance to God’s authority. It is not only doing what Satan wants, but it is also becoming the person that promotes lifestyles that are Satanic, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft” 1 Samuel 15:23.

Rebellion always backfires. A person who rebels thinks they are getting away from God. But rather than rebellion deliver one from responsibility to God, it just indicts one for their transgression against God, thus mandating judgment and penalty against them for sin: “But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you, as it was against your fathers.” 1 Samuel 12:15

The strength of rebellion is the folly of sinful pride and self exaltation. A person in rebellion thinks they are in control of their life. But nothing is farther from reality. A person in rebellion has surrendered their powers of reason unto lies. Their judgment is perverted. Their eyes no longer see, their ears no longer hear. They discern not that which is unto their own ruin. But the strength and nature of rebellion is what will bring about the overthrow of the rebellious: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18 “He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” Proverbs 29:1

The horror of rebellion is that rebellion destroys the bridges that one would need to be able to retreat from the serious consequences of rebellion, “For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.” Proverbs 1:29-31.

“Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.” Hebrews 3:15

“Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord.” Malachi 3:7

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Maturity

Maturity is the ability to do a job whether you are supervised or not, finish a job once it is started, carry money without spending it, and able to bear an injustice without wanting to get even.

Maturity is the ability to control anger and settle differences without violence.

Maturity is patience. It is willingness to postpone immediate gratification in favor of the long term gain.

Maturity is perseverance, the ability to sweat out a project or a situation in spite of heavy opposition and discouraging setbacks.

Maturity is the capacity to face unpleasantness and frustration, discomfort and defeat, without complaint or collapse.

Maturity is humility. It is being big enough to say, “I was wrong.” And when right, the mature person need not experience the satisfaction of saying, “I told you so.”

Maturity is the ability to make a decision and stand by it. The immature spend their lives exploring endless possibilities; then they do nothing.

Maturity means dependability, keeping one’s word, coming through in a crisis. The immature are masters of the alibi. They are confused and disorganized. Their lives are a maze of broken promises, former friends, unfinished business, and good intentions that somehow never materialized.

Maturity is the art of living in peace with that which we cannot change, the courage to change that which can be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference.

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