Stop Making Excuses - It’s Time to Grow Mike Dickson We all want better results in our daily walk with God. Our human nature loves to make excuses. God’s way is different. We must overcome our natural tendencies to achieve our goal.
A s a parent, it is an honor and a joy—but also a challenge—to train up a child. Yet most of the time, I find myself learning even as I try to teach my children. One lesson we’ve discussed recently as a fam- ily is admitting when you are wrong or when you’ve made a mistake. For example, one of my children was using an object incorrectly, and it broke. Instead of taking respon- sibility, the response was: “It just broke!” It wasn’t because of the bashing, stretching, or jamming—it was the object’s fault, apparently. We adults may chuckle at this, but how often do we play the same blame game with our own mistakes? Excuses are everywhere: “I forgot.” “I didn’t have time.” “I had a headache.” “My dog ate my homework.” Sometimes there are legitimate rea- sons. If someone asks you to run a mile right after breaking your leg— that’s valid. But excuses are differ - ent. Excuses are flimsy attempts to shift blame elsewhere and they are dangerous. They prevent us from facing our sins and shortcomings and impede our character growth as Christians. Excuses often come from bad atti-
tudes—pride or vanity—in an attempt to protect ourselves. We use excuses as a cover for laziness or a lack of discipline. If we can deal with our mis- takes honestly, character growth is sure to follow. God’s people must avoid making excuses. There are some vital keys we must employ in our lives to help us in our battle against self. Own Mistakes Blaming others is a common pitfall. The attitude is: “It’s not my fault!” Yet very often, some (or most ) responsibility lies with us. History and the Bible are filled with examples. Aaron, confronted by Mo - ses after making the golden calf, said: “You know how prone these people are to evil. They brought me their gold, and I put it into the fire—and this calf came out!” (Exodus 32:22–24). Ridiculous. The first excuse-makers were Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:8–13: Then they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God… Then the Lord God called to Adam and said, ‘Where are you?’… The man said, ‘The woman you gave me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.’ And the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate. Instead of justifying weaknesses, we work to overcome them Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. Neither one was willing to admit or own their mistakes. Excuses like these have caused countless rela- tional problems and including separation from God. Imagine how different the world would be if everyone held themselves accountable. Gary Vaynerchuk (aka Gary Vee), a popular digital marketing and social media personality, once said: “Excuses are the currency that allow you to
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