“And (God) said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded you that you should not eat? 12. And the man said, the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat. 13. And the Lord said unto the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”
I wanted to write on the error of making excuses today, and the text printed above came to mind. Adam seemed to be saying that if God had not given him “the woman” he would never have eaten the forbidden fruit. In turn, Eve blamed “the serpent.” (This is called “The devil made me do it.”) Eve’s excuse might have made more sense, but they were still excuses for what they had done. So what is wrong with “making excuses? First, making excuses does not solve the problem. In spite of Adam and Eve’s excuses, we are still paying the price for their sin today. (Thank God that Jesus came and died as a sacrifice for our sins.) In spite of their excuses they were still expelled from The Garden of Eden, and paid a heavy price for their sin. When you give in to temptation, or when you make a costly mistake, do not make excuses, but admit the truth and find the real solution to whatever the problem is. As long as we excuse our errant behavior, we are not dealing with the real problem. Second, making excuses does not deal with the real problem of humanity, i.e., sin. Adam did not say “I am only human,” but he came mighty close. This is how we excuse our giving in to temptation. This is why our loving Lord gave us the opportunity of confession and forgiveness. Before we start to make excuses for our sins and foibles, we should remember the promise of 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God knows that we will sin and He is always ready to forgive us, but to excuse ourselves does not solve the problem of sin that we all have. Third, we need to believe that God will really forgive us for our sins. Making excuses for our sins is like trying to escape our need for forgiveness not claiming it as the blessing that it is. As I have already mentioned, Jesus paid a steep price for us to have forgiveness for sin. I know that I rejoice in the forgiveness that is offered me through Jesus. If you are bogged down in some sin today, the thing for you to do is stop excusing yourself and run to Jesus for forgiveness. He is always ready to forgive our sincere confessions. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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