 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
By Roger A. Scully, Jr.
After having been tempted of Satan and succumbing to that temptation, both Adam and Eve were eager to point the
finger at someone else. Adam said, “it was the woman you gave me,” and Eve said, “It was the serpent who beguiled
me.” The reality is that each person makes his own decisions in life; hence each person is responsible for his own
actions. Remember the words of Solomon, “God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing,
whether it be good or whether it be evil” (Eccl 12:14). Or what of the words of Paul, “For we must all be made
manifest before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to
what he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor 5:10). The sooner we come to realize that we are responsible
for our actions, and we must answer for what we do, and stop making excuses for our failures, the sooner we can be
molded into the people we ought to be.
The biggest problem with those who make excuses seems to be the fact that they legitimately believe their
excuses to be acceptable. The reality remains, however, that excuses are simply that, excuses. In Luke 14 Jesus
spake a parable about “a certain man who made a great supper,” and “bade many” to attend it (v.16). However,
when those who were invited received the invitation to the great feast “they all with one consent began to make
excuse.” The term “excuse” is translated from a verb meaning to shun or avoid. The excuses they offered were: “I
have bought a field, and I must needs go out and see it” (v.18); “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove
them” (v.19); “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come” (v.20). Each person who refused the invitation
offered what was to him a legitimate reason, but in reality it was not acceptable, therefore the “Master of the house,”
God, “was angry” (v.21). They did not offer reasons, but rather shunned and avoided their responsibility. What
about us, do we have reasons or do we simply offer excuses?
When our children fail to complete their Bible class lessons, do we acknowledge that they have failed and need to
be forced to do better, or do we say things like: “They can’t handle the work,” “it’s just too hard for them,” “you know,
they have ADD”? When we fail to do what is expected of us, do we own up to the fact that we dropped the ball, or do
we say things like: “I was just too busy,” “I had a rough week,” “too much is being expected of us”? In reality, each
person is capable of doing what he or she so chooses, hence when our children fail to complete their Bible class
work, it is because we did not make them do it. When we fail to fulfill our duties as a part of the body of Christ, it is
because we simply chose not to do it.
Many people claim to be too sick to attend services, but the same people choose to go to work everyday it is
expected, attend other recreational events when invited, cook and clean their own home, etc. I personally know of
one Christians who is always too sick to attend services, but who seems to be able to shop most Saturday nights. Is
not something wrong with this picture? Again, each of us is capable of doing what we choose to do, and often make
sure that we do what is important to us. Several years ago I was told of a Christian man who did not attend
Wednesday evening Bible class because of the snowstorm which struck his hometown. However, the next night he
and his family attended a hockey game 3 hours away! Was all the snow melted? Was the weather better the next
night? No, for I was told that the weather was even worse the next night, than it was the night before. The bottom line
is: this man and his family did what they wanted to do, and offered an excuse for what they did not want to do.
This does not only apply to studying the Bible and attending services, this also applies to fulfilling other
responsibilities, like evangelism. When we look to the fact that the church is not growing, people say things like:
“Well, no one wants to hear the truth,” or “no one wants their door to be knocked,” or “no one will read what we give
them anyway.” I reject these things as nothing more than excuses; things which are offered to avoid and shun
responsibilities. Typically when people say things like this it really means, “I do not want to knock doors, hand out
tracts, or do anything else you might ask me to do.” Did not God say if we plant and water, then He will give the
increase (1 Cor 3:6)?
Admittedly, not all sickness is just an excuse. Some are really sick, or are really unable to perform certain duties.
However, the majority of the time, this is not the case. Let us stop making excuses and let us get busy studying our
Bibles, making our children complete their Bible class work, attending every assembly of the saints and fulfilling our
responsibilities to seek and save the lost. Let us not be told like those in Luke 14, “none shall taste of my supper.”