On September 8, 2012 there was an event in Ada ,Oklahoma called God’s Girls. The speaker was Melissa Hite and she inspired me to write this article. A lot of times people make excuses for why they can’t do things like, “I am too young.” Melissa showed me that we shouldn’t make excuses; we should just do what God expects of us.
In this study we are going to talk about two people, Moses and Paul, and whether or not they made excuses. Our first example is Moses. We’re going at look at when God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. In Exodus 3:1-15 God tells Moses to go to Egypt and lead his people out of captivity, but Moses kept making excuses. He didn’t want to do what God expected of him. To be a good Christian we need to be willing to do whatever God wants us to.
We all know how that story ends. After making God mad with his excuses, Moses finally does what God wants him to. This shows us that people in the Bible had just as hard of a time with excuses as we do today, but since Moses was able to go from being a man of excuses to a man of action, we can do the same thing.
God feels the same way about our excuses as He did about Moses’. It’s our job as Christians to do what God wants us to without making excuses. That’s exactly what the apostle Paul did.
In Matthew 28:18-20, and Mark 16:15-16 Jesus said “Go into all the world and teach the gospel.” Paul was one who made no excuses; he did as he was told. We see this in all he went through on his missionary journeys. He was beaten, put in jail, shipwrecked, thrown out of cities and threatened as he, “went into all the world” teaching the gospel. Paul had lots of chances to make excuses, but he never did.
Many people today use excuses for why they can’t do things like evangelize, “I’m not a good speaker,” “I don’t have the time” etc… There should be time in our lives for God if we are really Christians! Making excuses is not a Christian attitude. People’s souls are in danger! They have to be preached to (Mark 16:15, Acts 2:22-47), and ladies if we are making excuses for why we can’t be evangelistic they won’t be preached to.
Many people know the scripture, Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” We need to remember that it’s not us, it’s God. If we really believe this Scripture, we will be like Paul instead of like Moses. We will eagerly do what God expects of us without making excuses, knowing that He will give us the strength.
By Re’Elle Crowell
Re’Elle is the 11 year-old daughter of Jonathan and Lacy Crowell. She lives in Holdenville, OK where she is very active in the East Main church of Christ. Her goal is to grow into a strong woman of God and serve the church.