Excuses!

We all give excuses. Excuses are a way of life! It was no different during the time of Jesus. Once Jesus went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath. And there He taught the people using a parable. Jesus said that a man arranged a great feast and invited many (Luke 14: 16-24). The Bible says that all the invitees began to make excuses with one accord. The first said, that he had bought a piece of ground and that he must go and see it. Another said that he had bought five yokes of oxen and that he was going to test them. Still, another said that he had married a wife, and therefore he cannot come. No one buys land without seeing it first, and no one buys oxen without testing them. They were literally 'making' excuses!

Some people give excuses for not attending functions that are important to you or for not accompanying you to someplace. They will always 'make' time to be wherever they 'want' to be. But where they do not want to go, they will say they are too busy with work! We all have such people in our lives! What does that mean? It means that you are not important to that person. It means that he or she does not really care about you. It means that in their heart and mind they do not value your relationship and you as a person have no place in their lives! And we behave in the same way to others at times!

God speaks to us all the time! Sometimes He speaks to us through His Word; sometimes He speaks to us through people; and many times, He speaks to us through our conscience! But we choose not to obey. We obey only when something is convenient for us or when it promotes our public image. We complain that we do not have time to pray or to study the Bible. What does this mean? It means that we really do not care about what the Bible teaches us or how Jesus expects us to live. We really do not care about Jesus!

My friend, God in His mercy, has given us time to repent and return to Him. In this parable, all those who were invited lost the blessing of being with Jesus. Let us not dispossess our blessings because of our excuses!

Categories: Weekly DevotionalsAuthor: Hephzibah StephenDate: 7th May 2019 Share: newsletterDisplay date: 8th May 2019

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