Why It’s Time We Stop Making Excuses. And UNITE Linky

The world is filled with excuses.  I know.  I am the creator of the best of them. I have pulled them on,
dug them up, lassoed every excuse of why I can’t live fully for God.

You too?

See there is just something about smallness that makes us want to breath deep and crawl up into it. I think we can all embrace this aspect of theology.  But, when it comes to living like God has called us, rising up and being the fullness of what he died for…somehow we get stuck.

What excuses do you have for not serving God with all you have?  Are they tangled with mine? I am too old, too young, to lost, or too broken?  I am not educated enough?  Not wealthy enough? It’s someone else’s fault why I trip up time and time again…and don’t live bold for Christ?  Is it the churches fault, a pastors fault?  Is it a group of people who did me wrong?  Or just one person that cut
in on your race when you were going so strong?

The list goes on and on.  But friend, let me tell you right now….no matter who you are, where you live, the colors of your past…you are not exempt from God’s calling on your life!

My husband and I do devotions thousands of miles apart this morning. Him in an airport on his way to South America, and me here tucked quiet within the walls of our casa. We used to always fight through devotions.  Used to struggle on finding common ground when our worlds, our past, everything about us used to look so different….and we could not see “same”….We could not see each other.

But scripture is life. It is hope.  It is joy. It is a level playing ground.  And in His presence there is UNITY, if we keep our eyes on His perfection, and not on others or our own inadequacies.

This morning we read together, 1 Corinthians 1:19

“I will baffle and render useless and destroy the learning of the learned and the philosophy of the philosophers and the cleverness of the clever and the discernment of the discerning; I will frustrate and nulify them and bring them to nothing.”  (A passage here in the New, but repeated from the Old Testament, Isaiah 29:14)

And suddenly all of our excuses fall like rain onto the floor of who we are.  All our need-to’s, have-to’s pass away like decades passed, not remembered anymore.  For God thinks not as we think. His ways higher. His thoughts beyond what we could dream for us.

And yet, we get stuck.  We get stuck…don’t we?

We dance around the “rules”, we put our faith in education, learning, philosophies, or our own discernment….when all we really need is Christ. (1 Cor 1:19)

How many times have you, have I justified our time, pointing to others, or made excuses for why we couldn’t move ahead in the calling of God?

“Has not God shown the nonsense and the folly of this world’s wisdom?” 1 Cor 1:20

And yet, we scan Facebook and Twitter, we read books, we get as much education as we think seems fit….

Yet, at the end of the day, at the end of this life….God won’t grade us on how much our heads hold, but instead on how much our hearts hold, and how much our hands have shown the love of Christ.

And I don’t want to offer Him empty knowledge at the end of this life, when I bow before the Holy of Holies and make excuses for why I didn’t sacrifice or give my life away like He did.

I want radical love to prompt abandoned grace, while doing everything God in His mercy has called me too..

No more excuses?

God says…

“Not many of you were wise according to human estimates and standards, not many influential and powerful, not many of high and noble birth,  God selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is lowborn and insignificant and branded and treated with contempt, even the things that are nothing, that might depose and bring to nothing the things that are.”

God does use the seemingly useless, so that no man can boast!

So, how about if you join me today in crucifying our excuses!  How about if we scrape up our worthlessness, lift up our heads, and stand up and start doing the work of God. (Whatever that looks like for each of us)

As we preach Christ, we will be foolishness to many, requiring us to cling to, trust in, and rely solely on Him for your daily nourishment.

Walking in the fullness of Christ is often craziness to the many watching, (It can even be craziness to other Christians watching, at times), but it is in the trusting God, that he is wiser still; the weak things of God stronger than man and their apparent wisdom, knowledge, and man-made rules….

And yet God-driven is the place where we must live.  In the center of His perception.  The place where condemnation, excuses, even our own feelings don’t compromise His presence or His goodness.  A place where we can walk boldly in His love….which is all that matters at the end.

I want that kind of faith, don’t you?  To stop justifying my inadequacies, and start living boldly in the truth of Christ

God uses the lowly.  And my friend, He can use you too?

Ready to leap together?  Let’s do it!

TICKET SALE ENDS TODAY Today is the last chance to get discounted tickets for the Missional Women Conference in Denver, Colorado on April 11th – 12th. (Read more and/or get tickets HERE).  Come get practical help in how you can live missionally for the glory of God, right where you are!  Plus, I would LOVE to meet you!

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12 Comments

  1. Jen- this is one of the most inspired posts I have ever read- it is utterly awesome.
    This shows me how powerfully God is at work in your lives- I am joining with Him in cheering you on.

    Is it this coming weekend you will be away? I have been interceding for you and sense such a sense of excitement for all god is doing in your lives- truly He has gone before to prepare a place for you.

    xx xx

  2. Hi Mary –

    Thanks for your encouragement. We just got back from D.R. & the conference isn’t until April 11th. Thank you for your prayers & reminding me that it is ALL joy to follow, serve, and to go where He calls.

  3. Yes, I’m working on that kind of faith, too. Not following the ways of the world, but listening for God’s call on my life – no matter what that looks like. And then remaining in obedience to Him no matter how inconvenient.

  4. Laura – So good! Ya, I am finding the “remaining in obedience” part is HUGE…and where most of us (or at least where I) mot often trip up! πŸ™‚

  5. Powerful words, Jen!

    You know, sometimes the excuse I use is this: that I don’t want to claim any *gifts* I might have because that would be selfish. So, I give myself an excuse that feels *good and godly* because I’m not supposed to be boastful, right?

    Well, yes. But, to back away from faithful action because I’m claiming some false humility – well, that’s wrong…

    So, Lord, help this mess that is me. Help me claim and use the gifts You have given me, to YOUR glory, no excuses…

    GOD BLESS!

  6. This is something God has been speaking to me about as well. ‘Stop making excuses and just trust and obey Me.’ It’s kind of scary but exciting at the same time! Beautiful post, glad I stopped by to read today. : )

  7. Crucifying the excuses!! Yes! Thank you Jen, this was so, so good. I saw myself in every paragraph, the good, the bad and the ugly. πŸ™‚ Blessings friend, I know this will help many! Pinning and tweeting! ♥

  8. Cathy – Thanks for stopping by! Trusting and obeying…sounds easy, but for me, it’s my emotions that usually come in and sabotage what God wants to do. An oh yes, the simplicity of that child-like faith…

    Nannette – So glad this post touched you! As you know, when you write, you never know which posts will resonate with people and which won’t. Blessed though when we can use our words to not only minister to ourselves…but others as well! Thank you so much for Pinning & Tweeting along these words! πŸ™‚

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