Excuses, we all use them. We dismiss personal and corporate performance, obligations, and potential all on the account of an excuse. When was the last time you used an excuse to release yourself from personal liability or even responsibility? Through reasoning and rationale, you can discover an excuse after ever but. I’d finish this book, but… or perhaps I’d complete this program, but… – the excuses are endless and sometimes mindless. Most never realize their full potential, calling, or passion because of the personal epidemic of excuse. The excuse is an easy way out from engaging one’s cause. It becomes the avenue by which we can blame someone or something else for our unrealized dreams or potential. Personally, I think it’s high time we quit making excuses and start taking responsibility for our actions and our future.
Do you remember the Parable of the Talents? You find three servants in the story each given a specific gift of talent(s). Two of the servant went out and doubled the original investment. Then there was this last servant discussed in the parable. He took the one talent and buried it in the ground. His whole rationale for non-performance was based on an excuse that his master was a hard man. This one servant lived crippled by an excuse. He couldn’t perform or fulfill life’s obligation because he focused more on the excuse than on his calling, passion, dream, and purpose for life. His excuse hijacked his reward.
Did you know churches are full of excuses? If we only had more volunteers, we could do this. If we only had more money, we could do that. As I walk down the hallways of our campuses, I am reminded of the crippling result of excuses. Know I’m not picking on the church where I serve, it happens in every church. I don’t know a church that isn’t hampered by the excuses of a congregation and its staff. Maybe it’s time to quit making excuses and get to work. Maybe it’s time we quit dismissing potential with the roadblocks called excuses. Moses had a lot of excuses and it didn’t get him out of leading a group of people out of Egypt. Excuses don’t dismiss your responsibility, it only allows you to live a delayed fulfillment of God’s plan in your life.
Instead of focusing on the excuse, maybe it’s worth some time focusing on the potential. When we take our eyes off God’s plan or linger our gaze upon the distractions called excuses, we miss His purpose both individually and corporately. What excuses are you allowing to interfere with God’s call upon your life? Isn’t it time to get rid of the excuses and engage the possibilities!
We have more ability than will power, and it is often an excuse to ourselves that we imagine that things are impossible. ~François de la Rochefoucauld
He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. ~Benjamin Franklin
The person who really wants to do something finds a way; the other person finds an excuse. ~Author Unknown
Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure. ~Don Wilder and Bill Rechin
No one ever excused his way to success. ~Dave Del Dotto
