Making excuses prolongs the problem

Have you ever known someone who had huge muscles and a tiny brain? How about the other way around? The reason is simple: what we spend time developing will grow. If we spend no time lifting weights, we will not get larger muscles. If we spend no time reading books, we will not improve our brain power.

The areas of your life you neglect will not grow and, if neglected long enough, will even die. The great thing about God is he will bring to our attention the areas we need to grow in spiritually. He even shows you specific areas in your life that need work.

The largest thing that gets in the way of us reaching our goals or growing spiritually is our excuses. We hang onto them for dear life. They are our comfort because we can get sympathy for them; however feeling sorry for a plant won’t make it grow, only water will.

I arrived at the AT&T Sports Center at 7:30 a.m. last Tuesday morning and stepped on the scale. It was difficult to accept the number that ol’ Bessie Lou gave me (that’s what I named the scale), but I was ready to face the music and change my lifestyle. I’ve made excuses for too long and it has gotten me nowhere.

My excuse was stress. I just celebrated four years of marriage, and in that time I’ve had six different jobs, six different residences and lived in five states. It hasn’t been easy or fun, but I’ve always relaxed with a tub of ice cream and a 2-liter bottle of soda.

The problem with using food as comfort is that it packs on pounds, which causes high blood pressure. It also makes me heavy so that I feel bad about myself. So, out come the excuses.

I deserve to eat this because people treated me wrong. There are many people heavier than me. The list goes on.

Although weight is the problem I have personally, there are many things we could make excuses for in our lives. I can’t keep a job because … I can’t quit smoking marijuana because … I can’t go to church because …

You may not have a weight problem, but more than likely there is something in your life you are making excuses about. Some people make excuses about why they don’t know God, but the Bible plainly says that excuse doesn’t cut the mustard.

Romans 1:20 says, “From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.”

In verse 19, it says that God put the knowledge of himself in their hearts. So when we stand before God in Heaven, all of our excuses will fall away and we will be faced with the bare facts: Did we accept Jesus as Lord when we were on this earth? There will be no time to get on a spiritual diet or start a Christian fitness program.

I could also pose this question to Christians: What have you done for God since you accepted Christ as Savior? Are you growing spiritually or are there dead areas in your life? What is holding you back from reaching your goal?

The point is, when we make excuses we don’t deal with the problem, we just pad our emotions. I’m tired of buying bigger clothes. I’m ready to face my issues head-on and, with God’s help, I’ll win!

Jesse Miller is youth pastor at Family Christian Center in Palmer and can be contacted at silverhonda84@hotmail.com.