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SEPTEMBER
Excuses, Excuses!
School is a fertile ground for making excuses. I
recently read some unusual excuses received by school teachers which I would
like to share with you:
‘Please excuse Roland from P.E. for a few days.
Yesterday he fell out of a tree and misplaced his hip.’
‘I was late to class
because it was foggy this morning and I couldn't find my way to school.’
‘I was late for class because the bell rang
before I got here!!’
And my favorite:
‘I didn't do my homework because of my
eyes.....I couldn't see any reason to do it.’
Excuses are not confined to school. I have
discovered people make excuses for rejecting the gospel. A favourite excuse
is to blame Christians. They say ‘I know a Christian and he is greedy’ or
‘I went to church, and everyone ignored me.’ It has to be said that
Christians are not perfect, and many can be bad examples. But blaming
others does not remove our accountability to God.
The truth of the gospel does not depend on the way
others live out their faith. Salvation is about Jesus alone. This is what
we read in Romans 10:9 ‘If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and
believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be
saved.’
Some people may use Christians or the church as an
excuse to reject the gospel. But they certainly can’t point a finger of
blame at the Lord Jesus. He is sinless, perfect in everyway. Even Pilate
who cross examined Him had to declare ‘I find no fault in this in this
Man.’ It was because he was sinless that He could do what no one else
could do, suffering death on the cross to provide salvation for all who
believe in Him. No one can use the life, death and resurrection of Christ as
an excuse for not becoming a Christian. In Jesus we have love, forgiveness,
salvation, new life and a future.
So please, don’t get sidetracked by looking at the
faults of others. Look to Jesus!
Behold Him there! The risen Lamb,
my perfect, sinless Righteousness,
the great unchangeable I AM,
the King of glory and of grace!
One with my Lord I cannot die:
my soul is purchased by His blood,
my life is safe with Christ on high,
with Christ, my Saviour and my God.
(Charity L. De Chenez, 1841-1923
adapted Vikki Cook)
Rev
David Irvine
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