The King of Excuses

I remember hearing in an old DC Talk song the line, “I am the king of excuses, I’ve got one for every selfish thing I do…” Well the same is true in my life! How many times do have I ever said I’m going to memorize this verse or this verse? I’m going to read through these x-amount of books this year? Or I’m going to start eating healthier and exercising more! I have great ideas at times but the thing is I have an excuse to keep me from doing the things I say I’m going to do. (Sound familiar?)
The same is true in Luke 14:16-2o as we see three men making excuses for not doing what they should.
“16 Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. 17 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ 18 But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ 19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 Another said, ‘I now have a wife, so I can’t come.’
One lame excuse after another! I mean what business man with any smarts would buy a field without first expecting it! And who would go and buy five oxen without “test driving” them? But the truth is we all do this! We have great ideas about memorizing scripture, inviting our friends to church, sharing our faith with a complete stranger and getting into the habit of early morning bible study and prayer. It’s so easy to get sidetracked with other things that vow for our time and attention and we never seem to finish what we set out to do, we always have another excuse after another.
And the truth is there is no good excuse for refusing to accept the invitation God has given to us. What has God called you to do that you have not yet done because you are too busy coming up with excuses to the God of the Universe? My prayer is that as Christians we stop making excuses for why we don’t spend time with God and take that first step to wanting to spend more time with him!

My Week

This week has been a great week. I was unsure of what to expect at the conference I was going to but God revealed to me that I was suppose to be there! It was great to get away from everything and be refreshed and renewed. I NEVER get tired of working with my students and I pray I never do, but it is nice to be able to hang out and talk with people who share some of the same fears and frustrations that you do. I would say that the one thing I learned this week is am I applying God’s word and truth into the lives of my students? I would like to yes, but only they can truly answer that question!
I pray that has a student pastor I never get caught up in the hoopla of doing but instead get caught up in helping my students learn how to apply God’s word to their lives!
I love what David wrote in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

Do I get tired over the course of the year, sure! But I hope my reason and purpose for that is not because of the activities, events and camps, but because of the ministering to my students! I love them and I pray that I’m being faithful to that which God has called me to!