Excuses

 Isaiah 1:19  If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. (KJV)

 When we procrastinate doing God’s will and give him excuses we move off His plan for our lives.  All of us have things we don’t like to do.  We may put them off for a while, but always they need to be done and there is a great sense of relief once they are accomplished.  Not everything God wants us to do is easy on our flesh.

 What are excuses?

Websters Dictionary definition:  Excuse – The reason offered or pretext (a reason put forward to conceal the real one).

 

What does it mean to procrastinate:

Websters Dictionary definition:  Procrastinate – to put off action, to delay, putting off to a future time

 

Why do people procrastinate or make excuses?

To avoid hardship or inconvenience.  Sometimes God wants us to change and change can be hard.  To conceal the truth

 

Why is it futile to make excuses to God?

He knows all things.  He knows the truth.  He will give us the ability to do anything he requires of us. You might get away with excuses that you use on parents and teachers, but you won’t with God.

 

What are the results of procrastination and excuses?

You won’t accomplish God’s Will for your life.  Don’t waste time.  Time is precious.  Once it is spent you cannot make more time or get that time back.  Be productive with your time.  Each part of our life is important for the end result.  There are very important things to do when you are a kid.  Some of these things are hard to start when you are old and married and have big responsibilities.  Examples:   undistracted prayer time, physical fitness, music lessons etc.  Some people put off receiving the Lord, thinking they’ll do it when they are older.  This is dangerous.  What if a person dies before they receive the Lord?  You develop a sense of shame.  When you know you are supposed to be doing something and you are refusing, you are walking in disobedience.James 4:17  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.  Sin brings a sense of shame.  Your confidence and self-esteem suffer.  You begin to see yourself as a failure.  When you rise to the occasion and meet each challenge in your life, your confidence in yourself and in God increases.  You develop bad habits.  Example:  If you put off doing hard things like cleaning up your room and you watch TV instead, you’ll soon become comfortable living in filth.  This could cause big problems when you are older and want to get married.  This kind of stuff could cause lots of spats.  Not everyone wants to live in a mess.  You won’t be able to find things when you need them.  You end up getting stressed out for no good reason.

 

If you put off studying and barely squeak by on tests, you’ll get used to living below your best.  This is a bad habit for the future when you want to get a good job.  Give 100% of yourself to everything you do.  You miss out on the blessing God had planned for you.

 

We can have a complete change of attitude.

Moses became zealous for the very thing he tried to avoid.  Moses’ excuse for not wanting to obey God’s call was that he talked slow.  Perhaps he had a stutter or speech impediment. At least he was honest with God.  We should be honest with God and with ourselves.  God made provisions for him to ease his fears.  God promised to be with his mouth – to give him the words and help him.  God brought Aaron to him and told him Aaron could do the talking for him.  If we be truthful and tell God the real reason we don’t want to do something, God may have a way to make it easier for us.   Moses reluctantly agreed to obey.  As Moses became involved in God’s purpose, he seemed to lose his fear of speaking before people.  By the end of his life, he was giving long orations before the people.  He didn’t need Aaron to do his talking for him.  He went from reluctance to whole-hearted obedience and service to God for the people of Israel.  His father in law told him to spread the work around as Moses was carrying too much of the load.  If we obey even though we are reluctant, we will most likely find that the things we dreaded weren’t so bad after all.  We may become zealous to do the thing we didn’t want to do at first.

 

Scriptures to Study:       Luke 13:6-9, Luke 14:7-24, Exodus 3 & 4