The Exquisite [and Deadly] Nature of Excuses, Part I

Lord, I will follow You. But let me first go and bury my father. Lord, I would follow You, but I've bought a field, purchased a herd, married a wife...."

In my recent time away, God brought to mind a great deal about excuses. Such a fascinating practice, excuse-making! I came to realize that excuses are exquisite (when we find the perfect one for the right occasion) and simultaneously deadly (because they successfully block us from making further progress).

By way of definition, it occurred to me that an excuse (as opposed to a reason) is a "verbal response allowing its giver to shun responsibility and accountability."


We offer up excuses in the social realm, the marriage realm, on the job and then, above all, in the spiritual life. For me, among the sorriest of communications are those by which we "excuse" not following Jesus and not pursuing His agenda (Matthew 6:33).

So, over the next few days (or weeks!) I want to untangle my thoughts about the issue by jotting them down here. I'd welcome your responses! Certainly, there are the out-and-out lies we utter as excuses: "The dog ate my homework." There are the excuses which might carry within them a kernel of truth. "I've been so busy!" What seems clear is that:

• With them (excuses) I blame others for my failure or ineffectiveness. (Adam: "This woman You gave me...")

• With them I choose a lesser value over a greater one.

• By them I can do what I want and yet not appear to be self-absorbed!

• By them I can avoid doing hard things.
  

• With excuses I blend into the crowd. (ah, the safe mooing herd!)

• With them, I avoid risk, loss and the accompanying pain or humility.

Next time I want to describe what I see as the spiritual nature of excuses -- that explains in my mind how they become so deadly.

I can hear more when I'm quiet!

My son Jeff gave me the gift of rest last week. He took me on a trip, and for seven days, I could rest, read, listen and be quiet. What a treat. There were no expectations, no requirements and no deadlines. It was so good to spend some great time with my son. Then, as I read God's Word, I heard His voice clearly. The Father encouraged me and directed and re-oriented me -- to my value to Him and to my purpose and calling from Him. What a pleasure it was, to just be with the One Who loves Me and knows me by name. What a joy to know that I need not perform to please Him...that He wants me, as He's made me to be, doing what He's made me to do. What a prospect to look forward now -- to serving and developing servants, and therein being like the Master.

Faithful is He Who Called You

He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. Jesus, in Luke 16:10

Let it never be forgotten that glamor is not greatness; applause is not fame; prominence is not eminence. The man of the hour is not apt to be the man of the ages. A stone may sparkle, but that does not make it a diamond; people may have money, but that does not make them a success. It is what the unimportant people do that really counts and determines the course of history. The greatest forces in the universe are never spectacular. Summer showers are more effective than hurricanes, but they get no publicity. The world would soon die but for the fidelity, loyalty and consecration of those whose names are unhonored and unsung. James R. Sizoo

Focus and simplicity

While for years now the church has invested in growing larger, the new missional movement is trying to get smaller in its focus so that it can get bigger in its impact. Neil Cole

When it's 4 am

When most of us wake up too early we attribute it to indigestion, too much “on our minds” or old age – then we want a simple solution like a pill. This morning when I awoke – too early by my judgment – God’s Spirit reminded me of a verse I memorized a long time ago: And early in the morning, while it was still dark, He arose and went out and departed to a lonely place, and was praying there. (Mark 1:35)

In Jesus’ case, there certainly would have been much on His mind – but I don’t imagine it was a matter of not being able to sleep! More likely it was very simply the great priority of time with the Father – that time easily pushed back the human need to sleep. And since the crowds seemed to find Him everywhere, since every single voice seemed to want to push Him in one direction or the other -- He got time with His Father in the darkness, when the lamps were out and very few came knocking (except the occasional Nicodemus!). It wasn’t a lonely place because He was lonely – but because He was alone with His Father, in a quiet place where He could freely speak and listen. He said repeatedly: “I came to do the will of the Father Who sent Me…” So, again and again He went away -- when it was decision time or when it was a time of being hyper-busy…when He just needed time with One instead of time with so many. And He also went when it was time to die, at every major time, you’d have watched Him slip intentionally, purposefully away to a place to pray.

And immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the multitude away. And after bidding them farewell, he departed to the mountain to pray. (Mark 6:45-46) And they came to a place called Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, "Sit here until I have prayed." And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch." And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground, and began praying. (Mark 14:32-34) And when day came, He departed to a lonely place; and the multitudes were searching for Him, and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from going away from them. (Luke 4:42) But He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. (Luke 5:16) And it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. (Luke 6:12)

More fluff than stuff?

The temptation of the age is to look good without being good.

Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

What if we were like Him?

In preparing to talk about "God-developed character" -- the fruit of the Spirit and some other qualities, I keep coming back to humility. Andrew Murray called it "The beauty of holiness" -- meaning that humility is the real mark of the man or woman who "gets it" spiritually. Even though I use Mark 10:45 often to encourage a serving spirit, I've forgotten that its context is the prediction of Jesus' brutal death, the whiny disciples all wanting to be "somebody" and Jesus reminder of His role among them even as His prophecy of suffering and death still hung in the air:
Mark 10 (NLT)
Jesus Again Predicts His Death
32 They were now on the way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with awe, and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear. Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him. 33 “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans. 34 They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again.”

Jesus Teaches about Serving Others
35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do us a favor.” 36 “What is your request?” he asked. 37 They replied, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?” 39 “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”

Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. 40 But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.” 41 When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. 42 So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 43 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”