Excuses, Excuses!

Note: The following is one of those pieces that was started and then sat unfinished due to the writer's block mentioned in "Heart for People". It feels good to finally finish it. :-)


Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.        -Romans 12:11

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.        -1 Peter 4:10

    Judging by the desperate pleas for volunteers for various ministries within the churches, and the way it's so often the same faces serving in the same capacity with a pretty high predictability, I think it's probably safe to say that many of us have been guilty at one time or another of making excuses to not participate in some sort of ministry or answer the nudge of the Holy Spirit to do something for the Lord. I'm not talking about excusing oneself from one noble cause for the sake of a higher calling here. I'm talking about avoiding ministry altogether because we're too busy, too tired, too poor, or any number of other superlatives that crop up in human life. And I think we can all recognize them as rather poor excuses when we take the time to really look at them, since they're often the result of placing our priorities in the wrong order, and deep down, we know that... For these are the very excuses that often leave us feeling guilty or defensive even as we're uttering them and backing away while glancing frantically at our watches and then pretending we see someone we were supposed to be meeting over the shoulder of the person doing the asking and beating a hasty retreat. Not pointing any fingers, mind you... I'm guilty too. Just sayin'.

     But there's one excuse that I recently recognized in my own life that on the surface looked mighty alright... Are you ready?

    "I want to give my best to the Lord, and right now I can't live up to my best."

    WHOOOIIIIEEE!! That sure sounds like a doozy of an excuse, doesn't it?!?

     Too bad it's no good! That's right! No good! It's just plain old procrastination and laziness dressed up in cheap gold paint! My oh my... I've got a sneaky little heart, don't I?!? (embarrassed giggle) I almost got away with that one, too! Fortunately God was persistently whispering in my ear, revealing it for what it was!

    So what's wrong with it? Well... We all have days in which we're unable to meet our ideal standards, and in fact, I believe that the majority of our days are like that!  In my case, it's poor health that has always seemed to stop me, but I can easily imagine someone with financial trouble or someone who's working two jobs using that same excuse. "Maybe when things are better, I can do something for ministry, but right now I just don't have anything worthy to offer."  Have you ever said that? But difficulties didn't stop Mother Theresa, did it? (What, you think she never had any problems?) And it doesn't seem to be stopping those predictable faces you always see serving in the church, does it? (Everybody suffers from some sort of hardship!)

    Waiting until we can do our best sounds like a noble plan, until you consider that the Lord wants the best we have to offer today- no matter how little that may seem to us- not the best we can offer someday. After all, that "someday" may never come! Take the story of the widow who gave two copper coins to the temple (Luke 21:1-4). Sure doesn't seem like much, but it was the best she had to give that day, all she had to give that day, and God knew it, and found her offering of greater value than the larger, but spiritually paltry and relatively insignificant, portion that wealthier people gave of their possessions. The same standard applies to every aspect of our lives today. We may not be able to give what we think we ought, but we should give whatever we have, with a cheerful heart, for today. If we're too ill to go out and serve in a physical capacity, then we can spend time in prayer for everyone we know who is in need of the Lord's intervention. We need only be conscious to do that! If we really are too poor to give much to charity, we can give what we can, be it a few coins like the widow, or some of our time. If we're so busy that we don't have time to turn around despite examining our priorities, we can offer encouraging words to anyone we encounter who may need it. Regardless of our circumstances, there are always opportunities to use our gifts and blessings to serve others, always some way we can give something back to the Lord, to give our best for the day, even if it seems paltry compared to what someone else is able to give. All summed up, you'll still be giving more to Him than if you "wait for a better day." And while it might not seem like much of an offering to us, for someone else, it could mean everything.

Father, forgive us our excuses for not serving You through serving others, for being so wrapped up in ourselves that we miss the opportunities to do some good in Your name. Thank You for taking our small efforts and making them into something much bigger and better when we do serve! Open the eyes of our hearts to yet more ways that we may serve You, no matter what the circumstances of our lives are, and give us the encouragement we need to keep giving You the best that we have for today, and guide us towards being able to give You even better for tomorrow. And Lord, bless those who have been selflessly serving you while the rest of us have been making excuses! In Jesus' name, amen.