victim of excuses
HOW CHRISTIANITY WORKS
by R i c h a r d C. H a l v e r s o n
The H ere is an intimate and frank look
"For the first time in 25 years I woke up with a clear head . . . and I took a look at myself honestly . . . without any excuse!” Thus spoke a man who at 43 was at the end o f his rope. According to his words he was a total failure as a business man — as a husband — as a father. He was even a failure as a drunk! His wife had sued for divorce. His children would not even look at him — let alone speak to him. His boss threatened to throw him out bodily if he ever set foot back in the office. "Always before that,” he said, "when I looked at my self I saw my mother-in-law or I saw my boss. I could always blame them for my condition. My mother-in-law was living with us and spending all my money. My boss wasn’t any smarter than I. I could handle the business as well as he. Why should he be running things?” For 25 years this man had been blaming someone else —- something else for his failure. It was either circumstances or people — never himself — that was at fault. He almost destroyed himself by hiding behind excuses. Then for the first time he took a good, straight, honest look at himself. And that was the beginning of a miracle! Ten years later this same man is a success in business. His family is back with him. His wife and children love and respect him. He holds a responsible place in the com munity. He is no longer the victim of excuses! No man can grow who refuses to admit his failure! The fellow who covers up every mistake with an excuse is through before he starts. There’s no hope for the man who blames someone else — or something else for every thing that goes wrong. No hope for the man who finds his circumstances rather than himself the root of his failure. Even God can do nothing for such a man! Someone has said, "The blood of Jesus Christ cannot cleanse excuses . . . it cleanses only sin!” Christ can no more help a man who refuses to admit his sin than a physi cian can help a man who refuses to admit a disease! " I f we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1 :9 ). (From " P e r s p e c t i v e a pastor’s new sletter to businessmen.) ' , 16
t a Ihese thoughts could be titled, “ This I Believe.” What I have to say is an effort to discover the basic philosophy which under girds my. whole life and the struc ture of my thoughts. I do not wish to imply, when I have done this, that copying these principles will of itself guarantee financial success, nor do I wish to suggest that the failure to use them presumes that you can never suc ceed financially. The absence of some will obviously militate against success because they are commonly recognized as human ingredients which are essential generally to success. Others, some of you will feel, have no necessary or valid framework of reference to success on the human level. And in this you may be right. But the follow ing things I do believe. First of all I believe that we live in a moral universe, and that this universe was created by a sover eign, moral Intelligence with per sonality, Whom we call God. This universe is governed by laws which spring from the being of God and these laws have a way of operating inexorably so that ultimately no man is able to escape the conse quences either of obedience or dis obedience to these laws. Further more I cannot help believing that the laws of God do not cease with the laws of nature in which you and I have confidence and which we use without thinking every day. Thus you and I can know with certainty what time each month the moon will be full, wh'at time of month the tides will be high, and exactly what spot in the heavens we can find a given star any night. These are physical laws which gov-
THE KING 'S BUSINESS
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