One excuse, it has been said, is as good as another. The Duke of Wellington is credited with saying that “a person good at making excuses is seldom good at anything else.” And George Washington Carver said, “99% of failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.”
An inmate at the Butte County Jail in California explained his brief absence from jail to skeptical sheriff’s deputies thusly: “I was practicing pole-vaulting and got too close to the wall and fell over the wall; when I regained my senses, I ran around trying to find my way back; but being unfamiliar with the area, I got lost and the next thing I knew I was in Chico.”
That makes about as much sense as this explanation for why fire trucks are red: “Fire trucks have four wheels and eight men. Four and eight are 12 and there are 12 inches in a foot. A foot is a ruler. Queen Elizabeth is a ruler, and her ships sail the seven seas. Seas have fish and fish have fins and Finns fought the Russians, who are always red. Since fire trucks are always ‘rushin’…therefore, fire trucks are red!”
A pastor, evidently exasperated by hearing one excuse after another, wrote to an aspirin company: “Dear Sir: You manufacture aspirins that relieve sufferings, colds, and fevers. The mixture used in your tablets makes it possible for people to get out of bed and fight off headaches, bad nerves, and muscle-spasms. I have noticed these tablets work wonders on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and especially on Saturday, BUT, people who take them on Sunday seem to get no relief. They cannot get rid of their aches and pains and are not able to attend Sunday School and Church. Is it possible to put in an ingredient that will work on Sunday?”
Jesus dealt with worn-out excuses when He walked amongst His own here on earth. One of the most absurd was resorted to by Pharisees, who had excused the neglect of their aged parents by saying that the money it would cost to support them was money that they had dedicated to God; or, as they would put it, “It is corban—a gift to God.” Therefore, they had no money with which to care for their parents. Jesus cut the props out of this super-pious excuse by saying that when they said this they were “making the Word of God of none effect.” (Mark 7:13)
Does such silliness resonate with anyone in today’s world, where people, often those who consider themselves church members in good standing, never bother to support their local church financially, offering up all sorts of excuses for why they just cannot afford to part with their money to support God’s visible work on earth?
Solomon spoke of the slothful person, who—too lazy to get out of bed or out of the house to go to work—would say, “There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.” (Provs. 26:13) Again, one excuse is as good as another.
Someone compiled a list of the “10 most used excuses”: 1) I forgot; 2) No one told me to go ahead; 3) I didn’t think it was that important; 4) Wait until the boss comes back so we can ask him; 5) I didn’t know you were in a hurry for it; 6) That’s the way we’ve always done it; 7) That’s not in my department; 8) How was I to know that this was different?; 9) I’m waiting for an OK; 10) That’s his job, not mine.”
I once read: “Once upon a time there was a church staff looking for teachers for their young people, children, and preschoolers for the new Sunday School year.
And some adults said, ‘I don’t want to leave the sweet fellowship and study of my adult class,’ but the drug pusher on the street said, ‘Not even the threat of jail will keep me from working with your children.’
And some adults said, ‘We have to be out of town too often on weekends,’ but the porn dealer said, ‘We’re willing to stay in town weekends, too, to accommodate your children.’
And some adults said, ‘I’m unsuited, unable to work with children or preschoolers,’ but the movie producer said, ‘We’ll study, survey, spend millions to produce whatever turns kids on.’
And some adults said, ‘I could never give the time required to plan and to go to teachers’ meetings.’ But the pusher, the porn dealer, and movie producer said, ‘We’ll stay open whatever hours are necessary every day to win the minds of your kids.’
So the adults stayed in their classes and enjoyed the sweet fellowship and absorbed the good Bible study, and could go out of town often on the weekends, and were available to do whatever was good to do in place of teachers’ meetings.
And when Sunday came, the children came to their classes and no one was there except the church staff going from one room to the next, trying to assure the children that someone would surely come to teach them. But no one ever came, and the young children and the preschoolers soon quit coming because they had gone to listen to others who did care about the things they did and what went through their minds.” (Vero Christian Church Newsletter)
One excuse is as good as another! Selah.
“And he (Jesus) said unto them, ‘Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.’” (Mark 10:9)
YOU and GOD 