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We often hear today the words uttered in despair, “Excuses! Excuses! Excuses!” when a person has gone to a lot of trouble or is about to undertake something and enthusiastically invites others to be part of it. We often have invitations issued to us, but quickly our minds try to think of a reason or an excuse on how we can get out of it. Our text is part of a parable of our Lord to warn us to never become lax in answering the call of our Lord to become followers of him and come and partake of his blessings. Because answering this call takes an effort, how much easier is it to make excuses to try and justify our stand? Over the years all kinds of excuses are used, but the Lord has long given his teaching in regards to these excuses. Some of the most common are –
Not today, there is plenty of time-
Joshua also had those words said to him, and the Lord, through him, spoke in Joshua 24:15, “Choose you this day, whom you will serve.” King Solomon was used by the Lord to speak in Proverbs 27:1, “Boast not thyself of tomorrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” Christ gave warning in Matthew 24:44, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the son of man cometh”, and Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in a day of Salvation have I succoured thee: behold nowis the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
We sometimes hear the excuse, “Oh, it is too late for me”
Not so according to the Lord – Ezekiel 33: 19, “But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.” In the parable of the vineyard workers in Matthew 20, where Christ asked the question of those in the last hour of the day. “Why stand ye here all the day idle?” we can read that even those received the same payment as those that entered the labour early in the day; and Apostle Paul in Romans 10: 13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Another excuse is often. “I tried once but failed.”-So what?
We read in 2 Corinthians 9:8, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” and in Philippians 4: 13, “1 can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”. and in Hebrews 7:25, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them”, and in 2 Timothy 1: 12. “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
An often used excuse is, “There are too many mysteries I can’t understand.”
This is partly so, but it is God’s way as in Deuteronomy 29:29, ”The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law”, and Christ said to Peter in John 13:7, “Jesus answered and said to him, What I do thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter.”
“I believe, but see no reason to attend church.”
Christ said in Luke 16: 16, “The law and the prophets were until John, since then the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it”, and in Romans 3:23-25. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.” ‘God is love. So I need not fear -in the end I will be right. God is love, but God has also issued warnings through Christ in Matthew 22: 12-13, “Friend, how comest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness.”
“I see too many hypocrites in the church.”
Christ’s words are very clear in Matthew 7: 1, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” We all have to give an account of ourselves, and we should heed the advice of Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 4:8, “Above all things have fervent charity among yourselves.”
“I cannot afford the time or the money.”
The Psalmist sums this up in Psalms 116:12, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me?” And Christ’s words in Mark 8:36, “For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul,”
Our excuses can go on and on, but for every one God has an answer found in His word.
If we can overcome these excuses and answer the call of the Lord at all times to come to His feast of blessings, we will surely taste of his promise in Revelation 3: 10, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” What excuse will we be able to make if we do not receive that crown?