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Faith and Excuses
Faith

Are You a Master of Excuses?

My daughter is the master of excuses. I thought I was, but this girl has me beat.

Ask her to do anything she doesn’t want to and instantly she turns into a ball of excuses. Maybe you’ve heard some of these before:

I ran out of energy.

My legs are too tired.

Mommy, mommy, I have to tell you something.

My brain hurts.

Yes, that’s just a sampling of the excuses that come out of her mouth and boy does it get me frustrated at times. She’ll waste more energy running back and forth to tell me she’s out of energy than she would if she had just cleared the table like I asked.

If I’m being honest, and I am. I am just like her.

Or maybe she’s just like me.

Whatever the case, here’s the truth. When God asks me to do something, I often turn into a ball of excuses.

But, God, what if they don’t want to hear?

But, God, my legs hurt, I don’t want to take care of my body.

I’m too tired to cook something healthy, let’s just eat chicken nuggets and tator tots.

But, God, what if nothing is wrong with them?

What if they don’t need prayer?

But, God, I don’t feel like getting up to get into the word. I’ll do it later.

But, God, what if I make a fool of myself?

That’s the real issue when it comes to doing what God wants, isn’t it? Pride. I don’t want to look like a fool. I don’t want to step out of my comfort zone. I want results in my faith without putting in the work. I want results in my body without putting in the work. I want results, but I struggle with my flesh who wants to stay here.

Are you a master of excuses? Or are you going to finally step out into the unknown and do something uncomfortable? Not because you like it. Not because it’s easy, but because God is calling you to do it?

You can be a master of excuses or you can submit to the master of the universe, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the one who spoke everything into existence with a word.

Just like my daughter. Ultimately, she begrudgingly does what she was asked. And hopefully, it’s teaching her a lesson in life.

Most of the time I begrudgingly do what the Lord has asked. I have missed the mark many times though. Moments where I know God wanted me to do something and I chose not to.

But I don’t want to be a master of excuses. I want to be a woman, full of faith, who steps out when her master calls.

Sometimes I feel like I’m Peter on the boat with Jesus. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read Matthew 14:22-34. Basically, Jesus is walking on water, Peter sees Him and wants to try it out too, so he asks Jesus to call him out. He does so Peter steps out and walks on water. Awesome right? The truth is, Peter looked around, realized what he was doing and got scared. Jesus then had to save him from drowning.

One of the first Christian living books I ever read was called, “If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat” by John Ortberg. I think it’s a metaphor for my life, because God is constantly calling me to a place of greater faith, but it requires me to get out of my place of comfort. It requires me stop making excuses, and start doing what He’s called me to do.

What about you? Are you a master of excuses? Or are you ready to step out in faith?

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