Excuses?

“And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever” 1John2:17.

“Another said, ‘I now have a wife, so I can’t come” Luke 14:20. This is the third thing in the anatomy of excuses. In other words, Jesus, can’t you see that my status has changed? You cannot expect me to be doing the things I was doing before. I now have a wife. People do strange things when it comes to wife or no wife, husband or no husband. These are the people that say Jesus will understand. ‘I now have a wife, so I can’t come”; I mean this just makes logical sense, Jesus can’t you think at all? Do you really expect me to be at this party? He was the only one that was so direct. The first two were nice, courteous even; they said ‘please excuse me’. But he said I can’t come! Go figure; after all, it is written, if a man has just married a wife, he should spend one whole year cheering her up [Deut.24:5]. But it’s Your Word Lord, so You have to understand – I can’t come.

Having a field, or a wife, or oxen is not wrong in itself. I can give you scriptural references that show the heart of God concerning prosperity, promotion, and increase. God wants you to have oxen, He wants you to purchase fields, and He wants you to have a wife [not wives] or husband. But the problem is when your spouse becomes more important than the call of Jesus- then you have a problem. All these things become wrong when we exalt them above the call of God. So what are these three things [field, oxen, wife] symbolic for? Three things: Lust of the flesh; The first thing the field, oxen, and wife represent really is the ‘world’. “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you” 1John2:15. But God so loved the world; I should love what God loves, so why shouldn’t I love the world? That is not the world that God loves. And this is explained in the next verse. “For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world” 1John2:16. The world offers only a craving for physical pleasure. The Kings James Version of the Bible calls it the lust of the flesh. Lust of the eyes; a craving for everything we see. Then the pride of life talks of pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father but they are from the world. So if you look again at the story in Luke 14:15-20, you will discover that the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and pride of life, are contained in all the three excuses.

Prayer: Father, deliver me from the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, and the lust of the eyes in every area of my life, in Jesus Name.