Excuses

"Excuses"

Author Unknown

Excuses are tools of incompetence.

They build monuments of nothingness, and

Those who specialize in them seldom accomplish anything

“Stay getting to it that broke s**t ain't in my plan, yeah
Sleep when I'm dead, I'ma grind every day that I can
Got seven kids, and I gotta make sure
All of 'em them fed, by any means
Can't be no excuses, my children can't eat no excuses
My daughter can't sleep in excuses
My son he see me with no paper like keep your excuses
If you ain't producing, you're useless
That's why I'm out here getting to it” ~ T.I.

This is a poem that I’m sure that many members of Greek organizations are familiar with. The second part is from a song by Big K.R.I.T. ft. T.I. - Big Bank. I found the song to put the poem in more relatable words. As T.I. states in the song, excuses won’t do a thing to support my family. Do we let excuses stop us from taking care of our family? What about us letting them stop us from obeying God?

There are many things that God intended for man to do when He created Adam. God created man in His image (Gen. 1:27), to work (Gen. 1:1), to serve, to love others, and to be a part of his eternal plan. God said that the whole duty of man is to obey His commands and love others (Ecc. 12:13). One of the responsibilities that we overlook as a responsibility of man is simply, being responsible. None of our other duties can be accomplished if we neglect our duty of being responsible. Lets go back to Genesis where we can see where Adam tried to run from being responsible.

Genesis 3
11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

“The woman whom You gave to be with me”. Hmm does that sound like someone who’s responsible and taking the lead? That’s what we do today. “I didn’t start that business because I don’t have the money. I couldn’t pass the class because I had to work too many hours. I would’ve fixed my wife’s car like she asked me to, but something came up.” God created Adam to lead, and with leadership comes great responsibility. More times than not the blame is going to be on leadership. No matter who did wrong, leadership will most likely be questioned. Adam and Eve failed to heed God’s warning recorded in 2:16-17. When God asked Adam about his sin, Adam blamed Eve. Then Eve blamed the serpent. How easily it is to excuse our sins by blaming someone else or circumstances. But God knows the truth, and he holds each of us responsible for what we do. Admit your wrong attitudes and actions and apologize to God. Don’t try to get away with sin by blaming someone else.

God will hold all of us responsible for obeying His Word. But I want to speak more to the men in this post though. God made us to lead our families. Will we be responsible? Will we love our wives like Christ loves the church? Will we provide for and teach our children to do Your will? Will we do our best on our jobs so that it glorifies you? Will we be good friends to those that we interact with? God has given us the knowledge and wisdom to do all of these things, but it’s up to us to seek Him and put in the work so that our actions show our obedience to Him. That doesn’t mean that it won’t be hard, it doesn’t mean that you won’t get discouraged, but when God has told you to do something it’s in your best interest to obey. Maybe Adam and Eve didn’t understand the reasons for His command, so they chose to act in another way that looked better to them. Sometimes maturing can hurt us because we feel like we have to understand everything in order to obey, but there’s a reason God said to “become like little children” (Matthew 18:2-5). You ever notice how a child will do whatever you tell them without questioning (at least before they hit puberty lol)? Well God wants us to remain like that in response to His Word. All of God’s commands are for our own good, but we may not always understand the reasons behind them. People who trust God will obey because God asks them to, whether or not they understand why God commands it. God wants us to be responsible for upholding His commands. When you neglect responsibility, especially as a man, you do a lot of damage to the people that God has put you in charge of. If you’re married that’s you’re wife and children. If you’re single that’s your siblings, friends, coworkers, or anyone that you come into contact with. God needs you to be responsible and not make excuses for ignoring what He told you to do.