…A certain man made a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, “Come for all things are now ready.” But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, “I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.” Another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go test them. I ask you to have me excused.” Still another said, “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” (Luke 14:16-20)
Excuses! At some time, every one of us has been guilty of making an excuse. It’s human nature. According to the dictionary, an excuse is “a real or pretended reason or explanation given to make one free from blame or punishment; to seek exemption or release for; to overlook or let off with only disapproval, etc.” The list goes on, but we all get the meaning of the word. We want to be freed from whatever commitment we may have made that we don’t want or intend to keep. We wish for that to be done without having to dread any repercussion.
Sometimes we offer excuses when they are not in our own best interest. Alice and I have often mentioned this when thinking of our sister Reba Moore when she was told in the doctor’s office that she had to go immediately to the hospital for heart bypass surgery. She said, “I need to take my car home.” “I need to get some things to take to the hospital.” “I need to make some phone calls.” The doctor didn’t buy any of them! I don’t mean to be “picking” on Reba, but her excuses for trying to evade the doctor’s orders are just a prime example of how sometimes we are not being fair to ourselves when there is an urgency involved that could affect our health, our lives and our souls.
Yet, sometimes, we offer excuses that are just a means by which we hope to make a good explanation of why we didn’t do something that we should have or that was expected of us. Just as the doctor, for her own good, dismissed Reba’s excuses, God sees through our excuses. Our excuses will not avail with God! Above, we started out with the Parable of the Feast. When those invited didn’t come to the feast, the master of the house was angry and responded to the excuses offered. “…‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind’ …I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper” (Luke 14:21-24).
Jesus’ blood covers all sins of all mankind for all time. There is no favoritism in what He has offered to men. Listen as He said in Matthew 7:24-26, “Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken to a wise man who built his house on the rock…But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.” Jesus gave mankind a pattern by which to live, and the promise is that He will come “in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:8).
Those who don’t hear and obey the Gospel will pay an eternal price. Excuses will not be accepted. Paul said, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). Our Savior sits in Heaven at the right hand of God, so we can’t do good deeds directly for Him. However, indirectly, we can serve him by doing what He said in Matthew 25:40, “…inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it unto Me.” We serve the Master by serving others. People will be condemned when excuses are made for any lack of service to the Lord. “…He will reward each according to his works” (Matthew 16:27). Excuses won’t accomplish a thing.
