What’s Your Excuse?

“But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I now have a wife, so I can’t come.’ Luke 14:18-20

But they all began making excuses…” Did any of these people that were invited ignore Jesus’ call? Not at al! All of them acknowledged and responded but they took permission to be excused. Was that all right with Jesus? Sometimes we think that once we have taken permission then we are good. No, you are not. You may be good for the system on earth but does heaven recognize your excuses?

The anatomy of all the excuses in Luke 14:18-20 is extremely revealing. “One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’” The first in the anatomy of excuses is the compulsion ‘I must do this first’, even though Jesus is calling. What is that thing that is so compelling that it puts the call of Jesus [tugging on your heart] on hold? Jesus is calling but excuse me, I must attend to this first. What is that thing?

If you look at the second man’s excuse, he says ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ I’m making money, business is good, I have just expanded and I need to test run things, please excuse me. In other words, it’s not that I must try them out, it isn’t something so compelling but it is something that I choose to do. It is something that I desire to do. Jesus is calling and wants me to do something but I want to do something else, so please excuse me Jesus I cannot come. The question to you and I is what is that thing that you want to do that is at loggerheads with what God wants you to do? What is that thing that you want to do that isn’t in line with what God would have you do? I once had to exit a work I was doing for God; I had always wanted to do a PhD so I started off in that direction. However, even though all the factors at that point seemed to favour the PhD, it was clear to me that what Jesus wanted me to do was not the PhD, but to start a new work for Him. So guess what I did? What do you do when your preferences clash with His preferences? A lady said to me, I really want to join the prayer team because I believe that’s what God wants me to do; but they fast too often. I need to be fresh and look appealing. And so she did not join the prayer group. It is not by power or by might. Even those that are married will tell you that keeping your spouse is not by power or by might but by the Spirit of God. Sometimes we have to learn the hard way that except the Lord builds, they labor in vain that build. What is your excuse?

Prayer: Father, I repent for every time I have excused away Your way for my way. Help me to be more discerning and flush every excuse, in Jesus Name.