Lately I have been more stirred to eliminate any form of excuse from my life due to the climate of our nation. It seems that more and more people, Christians and non-Christians alike are willing to shift blame for their circumstance, their socioeconomic status, spiritual growth or lack thereof (this list could go on and on for days, but I won't do that to you) onto someone else. With busy schedules, responsibilities and unexpected difficulties we face, it can become incredibly easy to buy into the thought process that says, "It's not my fault" or "I couldn't help it" or "With everything I have going on, I just couldn't do it." We seem to have excuses for everything that we don't accomplish or things that we simply choose not to do. With all of these thing considered, I have been freshly stirred by my friend Jim McKenzie to examine myself in the area of personal responsibility. [Take a look at this post if you have some time, it's a great read, full of fun satire: http://revolutionaryparenting.blogspot.com/2008/09/i-was-going-to-write-my-blog-but-i.html]
In light of personal responsibility, the fundamental question I believe we need to ask ourselves before we ever make an excuse for something is: Was there any way I could have positively affected this situation? It could be about being on time, being debt free, avoiding a temptation that the enemy places in front of you, helping someone, finishing a book, studying your Bible, praying for someone, encouraging someone, spending time with a friend or loved one, or a host of other situations. Regardless of what is, we must be willing to allow the responsibility for something we could have avoided or changed to fall squarely in our lap. By doing this we become those who truly take dominion as God called us to in Genesis 1:28. Until we have that mindset, excuses will plague us throughout life and lead us into a place of mediocrity. Now don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean living in a place of continual defeat and discouragement because we beat ourselves up about all of the things we've failed in. Instead, we take the 'high road' as a certain smiling preacher from Texas often says. Rather than succumbing to mediocrity, we strive for excellence and the extraordinary. We can be like Paul as he spoke in Hebrews 6 when he said, "...we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation..." We must be confident of better things concerning ourselves and those around us and take responsibility to apply the word of God to our lives by the leading of His Spirit in order to see them fulfilled.
The great thing about living in God's Kingdom is that there is no question about God's heart for us. In Jeremiah 29:11 he tells us that his plans and thoughts for us are good. To give us a hope and a future. We also know that His strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). Therefore, I humbly submit to you that excuses should not be a part of how we live. God has not only called us to great things, but graced us to accomplish them. Excuses aside, be all that He's called and graced you to be so that you can honor and glorify Him with every part of your life.
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