Excuses are a dime a dozen, right? So, I thought I’d share a few “excuses” stories with you. Here we go.

Story #1: Mrs. Smith gave her class of high school students the assignment of writing a term paper that would be due in a couple of weeks. But as the days clicked off toward the deadline, she noticed that one student, Tom, didn’t seem to be working on his paper. She wasn’t the least bit surprised, then, when she started collecting the papers and found that he didn’t have one. She said, “Tom, didn’t you write your paper?” He answered, “Yes, but my dog ate it.” A disbelieving stare from Mrs. Smith followed, after which Tom explained, “It’s true. I had to force it down him, but he did eat it.”

Story #2: A young man was trying to help his date sneak into her bedroom after the two of them had stayed out way past her curfew. Her father met them at the top of the stairs and said, “Young man, didn’t I hear the clock downstairs strike three when you brought my daughter home?” The young man answered, “Yes sir, you did. It was going to strike eleven, but I grabbed it after a couple of bongs so it wouldn’t wake you.”

Story #3: A farmer asked his neighbor if he could borrow the neighbor’s rope. The neighbor answered, “Sorry, I’m going to use that rope to tie up my milk.” The farmer said, “You can’t tie up milk with a rope.” The neighbor admitted, “I know, but when you don’t want to do something, one excuse is as good as any other.”

Story #4 (my personal favorite): While a wife got ready for church one Sunday morning, her husband remained in bed. Finally, she asked him, “Aren’t you going to church today?” “No,” he said. “Why not?” she inquired. “I have three good reasons,” he said. “One, the congregation is cold. Two, no one there likes me. Three, I just don’t want to go.” Now the wife was mad. “Get out of that bed,” she boomed, “because I have three good reasons why you are going. One, there are a few warm people in the congregation. Two, some of them do actually like you. And three, YOU ARE THE PASTOR!!!”

Okay, so you’ve got that thing that God has been burdening you to either stop doing or start doing. Instead of yielding to His will, though, you’re making your excuses. Maybe those excuses make sense in your mind, or maybe they sound about as off the wall as these from these stories, but either way the result is the same: you are bucking God. All I can tell you is that you will never progress any further in your spiritual life until you lay aside your excuses and obey God’s command. James 4:17 tells us that it is sin to know to do good but not do it. So, until you do that “good” that God is telling you to do, you are in sin. Call it a sin of omission, call it disobedience, call it rebellion, or call it whatever you like, but don’t ever stop short of calling it sin. And don’t ever think that your excuses are cutting it with God.