Today's Devotional
May 24, 2006
Subject: Take Away Their Excuses
John 15:22 - "If I hadn't come and spoken to them, they wouldn't have any sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin."
It's quite interesting to watch my high school students as they attempt to learn the ways of life. One thing I've particularly noticed is their ability to come up with the most extreme excuses for why they did or didn't do a particular thing. Some days when we are having a special event, I reserve space on the huge dry erase board and students know not to come to me with the excuse but instead they post it on the dry-erase board and everyone throughout the day eventually sees it. After all of the excuses are posted on the board, it becomes a spectacle as onlookers begin to laugh at some of the comical reasons that people give for not attending a function, not wearing their uniform or for just not participating that day.
As a teacher, I feel it is my job to take away the excuses. When students are properly equipped and taught, there should be no excuses. Of course that won't stop the students from trying, but they should be kept to a minimum.
We don't have any excuses after Christ. We can't use the ignorance excuse because He's given us His word. Of course like my daughter during one bible trivia game, she complained because as she stated, "I haven't read that part of the bible." That's an excuse that a 6 year-old could make, but of course it's not a good one for me at 43 or for anyone whose been a believer for some time.
Christ came to take away our excuses and yet we find that people still make them. I mean I know we get sick and things like that, but the same excuses you get from most Christians about why they can't do something that God wants them to do is the exact reason they ought to do it. There is a person right now that I want to ask why they don't go to church. Is there anything more important than worshipping God?
Today God wants you doing exactly what He asks you to do and He has made the provision so all of the excuses have been removed. What's your excuse for not doing it?
