Excuse Me!

When we sin, we always have an excuse. When God asked guilty Adam if he had eaten the forbidden fruit, he offered the classic dodge: “The woman which thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat” (Genesis 3:12).

Here we have the Original Sin followed by the Original Excuse. And we haven’t stopped making excuses since.

We’re victims; we were tired, the kids were driving me nuts; I was caught by surprise, I didn’t think anyone would see me; I thought I deleted those files; we didn’t have a choice; she made me do it; he told me it was okay; I didn’t think it was wrong; if you had warned me better; you would have done the same thing; I just lost my temper; they deserved it; I don’t care what anyone thinks; and on we go.

Let me say it again: No one sins without making some excuse to himself for sinning. The worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves. Our excuses keep us chained to bad habits, addictive behavior, sinful patterns, and they lead to stupid mistakes and keep us locked into a downward spiral of denial and cover-up. When we sin, we always have an excuse we accept. You’ll never get better until you stop making excuses.

And this is exactly what the grace of God allows--and enables--us to do. Jesus Christ has "put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" and thus set us free from both the guilt and dominion of sin. The old hymn says, "He paid the price for canceled sin and sets the prisoner free!" God's grace allows us to experience real guilt; facing our failures honestly and putting them away. Meditate a bit on Romans 6:1-14 and Titus 2:11-14.

This is the message our lost, sin ridden world needs to hear. This is the message we are proclaiming weekly to literally millions via radio, television, the Internet, the printed page and media; the message we're training men to preach around the globe. This is the message we are privileged to get out to others by "life, lip, lit and 'lectronics" (as Oscar Woodall so often said). Life can never be boring with such a privileged calling!

Maranatha!