No Excuses

Taking responsibility for your life can be hard. Taking stock of where you are, why you are there, and how you got to be there is equally as hard. It’s easy to cover for ourselves, especially when we make “mistakes”, which are often just bad decisions. But admitting to our bad decisions means holding ourselves accountable and taking responsibility for our actions. Since the fall of mankind, few have been or are willing to do that. Instead, the majority of mankind, like our forebearers, make excuses, lots of excuses. And in the end, we miss our pathway to destiny because we fail to take responsibility for ourselves. That’s what I’d like to talk about in this post.

Flip Wilson, a famous black comedian in the 1970s, developed a line heard around the world — the devil made me do it. That comedic line gained popularity during that time period. But the reality had more truth in it than many would like to admit. Wilson was showing through comedy that people don’t like to take responsibility for their actions. Mankind hasn’t changed much since the fall. For Adam, it was “the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” Genesis 3:12, NLT. Or, it’s your fault God. For Eve, it was “the serpent beguiled and deceived me, and I ate [from the forbidden tree].” Genesis 3:13, Amplified Bible. Both passed the buck. Both had their excuses. Both sinned. Neither took responsibility for their own actions.

Today, the Lord is calling us to lay aside our excuses, as good as they might be. Eve has a good excuse. She was deceived by the real deceiver, Satan. But, in the end, her excuse didn’t save her. Rather, it revealed her flawed nature. Adam’s blaming his wife for his sin didn’t solve the problem. No! Neither excuse justified what they did. In fact, the excuse was irrelevant subterfuge; it sought to cover over their sin. And as it says in Proverbs 28:13, CEV, “You will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up; then God will show mercy to you.” That’s right! Own your sin. It’s the only way to escape it. No excuses. 

Similarly, own your failure. Own where you are and what you’ve done. Own it. Confess it. That’s right! Out loud. Why? To do what scripture teaches. I’ve found the best way to do the Word of God is “Whatever He says to you, do it.” John 2:5, Amplified Bible. That’s right! Just do it. When God says heal, just start doing it. What if we fail? Keep trying! Don’t give up! Jesus wouldn’t tell us to do something that we couldn’t do. What did he tell His Apostles? “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” Matthew 10:8. He meant what He said. Don’t make excuses! Own your success! Own your failure! That’s how we learn. That’s how we grow. Don’t skip the process!

Yes, part of learning how to do something is failing at it — oftentimes, spectacularly. Yet people try to skip the failure part. Often, huge expectations stop great things from happening in our lives. We live in the realm of excuses. We stop ourselves from failure. And we stop ourselves from success. Why? We don’t try. Remember, only one apostle left the boat and walked on water. It wasn’t John. It wasn’t James. And it certainly wasn’t Judas. No! It was Peter. And Peter walked on water. One of twelve. Then, he sank. He failed. But he succeeded. He was the only one. No one else tried. None. 

You may feel lost. You may feel alone. You may have tried and failed. Get up! Dust yourself off! Try again! Failure isn’t the end. No! It’s one step in the learning process. No matter what’s happened in your past. No matter what’s happening in your present. You’ve got the ability to make new decisions, new choices, new connections, which will lead to new opportunities and new problems. Don’t allow your focus on your failure, on your past, or on potential problems, stop you. Make a decision today to not give any more excuses for your failures. Own them. Confess them. Learn from them. And grow from them. No excuses.

Let us pray!

— Scott Wallis