Seven Excuses of A Christian

In my opinion: The Top Seven Excuses a Christian uses that keeps them at distance from God.

1) "I'm busy" or "I was busy."

It is so easy to tell ourselves that we are too busy to get into the Word, too busy to pray, even too busy to go to Chruch. We live in a society where we find ourselves so engrossed in the world that it is really easy to just say, "Oh sorry, I'm busy." How can you say that to God? How can you say to Him that you are too busy to spend time with Him? How? When He, the ultimate Father, Creator of the World who has billions and billions of other Children to tend to, can always find the time for you? How can you be busy?

Isaiah 32:6
'For the fool speaks folly, his mind is busy with evil: He practices ungodliness and spreads error concerning the LORD; the hungry he leaves empty and from the thirsty he withholds water'

It's not a matter of what your earthly responisibilities are. It's a matter of priority and MAKING time for Him, because he ALWAYS makes time for you.

2) "I will later"

A close second to simply saying you're too busy to spend time with God is saying that you will do it later, because in all honesty later will always be later. My dad always says, don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today and that's prevalent for everyone, Christian or not. The reality is though that procrastination is a curse in this life and the majority of humanity like to push things off from time to time. But the one place you don't want to procrastinate especially, is when it comes to your relationship with Christ.

Ecclesiastes 5:4
'When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools' fulfill your vow'

If you keep saying, "I will" keep saying, "I will tomorrow, I will next week, I will when I can." You're really just hurting yourself. When you say you will "later" you are stating that there are things that are more important and that you have time to do it all but what makes us think that our relationship with Christ is one of those things to do in our spare time? What makes us think we have time to spare? God never stated in Revelation an exact time and date for when he was coming back and that's what scary. What if, you keep saying, "Tomorrow, I will tomorrow," and Tomorrow doesn't come? ::shivers:: That is the the most frightening thing in the world to me, and yet, people make the excuse every day without even thinking about it.

3) "I know."

My dad said something intersting to me once, he said, "There is a different between knowing and doing." [This was in the context of cleaning my room] and I really started to think about it when I was meditating on this post. There are so many people in this world that know; that think that's all they need. They know the scripture, they know the rules, they know how they are supposed to act, but they don't do anything about it. They don't live it. Jesus talks about people like that in the Bible. The Pharisees:

Matthew 23:1-3
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 3So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach."

They were kept at distance from God and all of Matthew 23 is a testament to just how far they were. So just the same, when we think that we know everything we are distant as well. And it really shows how disrespectful and sinful we are. I mean, if you know, then show it. Live it. Be it. If you know that your relationship with God is important then you should know the consequences of not acting upon it. And If you have the know how, prove it.

4) "I did!"

When you do something, a task that you are so focused on and dedicated to, you do it with all of your heart. But a boring task, a task that doesn't interest you at all, you usually do it half-way. You do it without heart and when asked if it's finished you say, "I did it." But did you really? Yeah, physically, but mentally, emotionally, spiritually, you weren't there. And that's how sometimes going to Church becomes a chore. Even Bible Study, or when it comes to reading your Bible, you can do it with the attitude that you don't want to be there, and then claim you did it, but God knows your heart, and he knows that you didn't do it at all.

2 Chronicles 19:9
'He gave them these orders: "You must serve faithfully and wholeheartedly in the fear of the LORD.'

What kind of service is that? Would you give a good tip to a waiter who was rude to you? Or would you pay full price at the carwash if only half of your car was washed? I don't think so. You wouldn't find that acceptable when it is done against you, so why find it acceptable when you're the one doing?

5) "I don't have to."

I've heard people say, "I went to church last week so I don't have to go to church this week." Or "I read my Bible yesterday, I don't need to read it today." It's all been said and it's all an excuse. You can't barter your Christian duties and you can't compromise with Faith. You do things like going to church and reading your Bible because you love Christ, you love God, and you do such things to strenghthen your relationship with Him. You don't do them because it's part of the routine, or at least you shouldn't, and you can't trade as if they were work hours or candy. No matter what you say, it's not a matter of you "don't have to" but more so, "Do you want to?"

Psalm 40:8
'I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.'

6) "I had to do something else"

"I had to go out with my friends" "I had to do my homework" "I had to miss Bible Study because...da da da da da" This is all I have to say, "Yeah....right." [Sadly the problem with some written word is that you risk losing sarcasm, so just so you know that was sarcastic] You ultimately make the choice of what is your priority. This goes with number one, but an excuse on it's own as well that many people use. How horrible would that be if God used that excuse on us? "I would have been there to forgive your sins but I had to TiVo something." Haha, how crazy would that be? Thank God that we're the humans and he's not right? The bottom line is you make the choices and you ultimately have to live with the consequences of those choices. Come judgement day, when you see God what are you going to say? "Sorry Lord that I didn't take the time to know you. I had to do something else." How well do you think that will go over?

Matthew 6:33
'But seek FIRST His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.'

And finally: 7) I'm Good

This is a huge misconception. Some people can really think that they are okay in where they stand in their relationship with Christ, but not know how broken that relationship is. People who profess to be a Christian, who profess to be alright, but, really, are blinded by the world in everything else, are the ones who are at most risk. Many think like I did once: I grew up in a Christian home, with a Christian family, and I grew up really believing that because of who I was, because of what my name was and who's blood flowed through me, I didn't have to work as hard to have a relationship with Christ. I was on a pedastal higher above than everyone else, and there are others who are like how I was. Many really think that because of what they grew up learning and who they grew up as makes them immune to the sins of a Christian who has lived in the world longer. There is no difference. We are all born in sin, and we all learn the same fundamentals. No matter when we learned them or how old, or how fluent we are, it's not even really what we do with that knowledge and how we live, or how our Faith grows that defines if we have the right to say, "I'm good." or not. Because the truth is, we will never be good enough.

Thankfully, it's not up to us, and the real truth is: we don't have to be. Jesus is more than enough.

Ephesians 2:8
'For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.'

Don't make excuses. Live for Christ fully dedicated and do it with Heart.
Grow In Christ