Many people are struggling with a coldness in their faith and they do not even know why it is happening. Drifting away from God does not happen overnight.
Most of the time it happens so slowly that we do not even notice it. But how does this drift actually start? Sadly it all starts from the very excuses we make.
We know how easily laziness and busyness take hold of us when we try to take a step in our spiritual journey. When it is time to read the Bible in the morning we are just too tired and tell ourselves that we will do it later.
We skip praying before bed because the day was just too heavy. We even make excuses when we feel the Holy Spirit nudging us to stand up in church and share a personal testimony or when our pastor asks us to take an important role in the ministry.
But every time we put an excuse between us and the Lord we are actually finding reasons to stray away from His presence and it costs us dearly in our spiritual life.
This habit did not start with our generation because it was right there in the Garden of Eden. When we look closely at specific examples of excuses in the Bible we can see exactly how these habits damage our relationship with God today.
1. Adam and Eve Made Excuses to Hide From God
When God came to the garden and asked the first man about what he did wrong the man did not apologize or ask for mercy. Instead he immediately pointed his finger and made a quick excuse. He blamed the woman for giving him the fruit.
Then when God turned to the woman she did the exact same thing and blamed the serpent for tricking her. They both tried to find a reason to get out of trouble instead of seeking forgiveness from their creator. Genesis 3:11-13
What does this teach us? Our faith is our responsibility. We cannot blame someone or our heavy schedules for ruining the responsibilities God has given to us (or our mistakes). Just imagine what if Adam and Eve had opened up to God about what they did and asked for forgiveness. I believe our merciful God would have forgiven them.
2. Moses Said He Was Not Good Enough to Speak
We see another major example when God called Moses at the burning bush. God told him to go and lead His people out of slavery but Moses was scared out of his wits. Exodus 4:10-14
He immediately started giving God a whole list of reasons why he could not do the job. He said he was not an eloquent speaker and that he was just too slow of speech to talk to a king. He kept looking at his own human flaws instead of looking at how big his God was.
Isn’t that exactly what most of us do when we have to take a responsibility in our church? We tell ourselves we are too old or we do not know enough Scripture or we are just too broken to be useful in the church. But when we say we are not good enough we are actually telling God that He is not strong enough to use us.
Moses still had to go do the job but his excuse cost him a beautiful part of his calling because God had to send his brother Aaron along to speak for him before Pharaoh.
3. King Saul Blamed Other People for His Disobedience
King Saul is a perfect example of how we try to wrap our excuses in a religious package. God gave him a direct order to destroy everything when he went to battle with the Amalekites, including their king Agag. 1 Samuel 15:1-3, 15:13-23, 15:28
The Amalekites were a wicked nation that had attacked the Israelites years before, so God commanded Saul to wipe out everything they owned. But Saul spared Agag alive, and he and the people kept the absolute best sheep and oxen for themselves.
When the prophet Samuel came and asked why the animals could still be heard, Saul quickly said that the people saved them to make a sacrifice to God.
This is one of the most dangerous traps for any believer. We can make almost anything sound holy if we try hard enough.
We say we won’t go to church anymore because we don’t like their worship style. But we make the spiritual excuse that we are listening to sermons online.
We refuse to interact with someone in the church because we claim we are standing up for holiness.
But Saul’s holy excuse cost him his entire kingdom. God does not want our religious reasons he just wants a heart that is willing to listen and obey.
4. The Banquet Guests Had Too Many Distractions
Then we have that powerful story Jesus told about a master who planned a huge banquet feast. The master sent out his servants to tell everyone it was time to come but every single guest started making excuses to get out of it.
One man said he just bought a piece of land and had to go look at it. Another said he bought some oxen and needed to test them. A third man said he just got married so he could not make it. Luke 14:16-24
Now none of those men were doing bad things because buying property and working your job and loving your family are all normal parts of life. But they let good things take the place of the best thing.
This is exactly how we lose our faith life without even realizing it. We get so busy with our retirement plans and our doctor appointments and our hobbies that we simply run out of room for God.
The cost for those guests was terrible because the door was shut and they missed out on the feast completely.
If this article speaks to your hearts, from today try to skip those excuses and make your faith the number one priority. Maybe we don’t know if we have the same chance to do it tomorrow. So use your time wisely for your spiritual growth and for the Kingdom of God.
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