Making Excuses

Good morning! Ohh, my aching head...it's like a hangover without the fun the night before. So, does that mean I think a headache would be somehow 'worth it' if I got to be drunk and stupid the night before? The voice of conscience speaks: "Face it, bub, we've made excuses for our sin before." Yes, I have, and as a Christian man, I suspect that most all other Christians have found the self making an excuse for sin at some point as well. "God created me that way," is a favorite of some. I won't say it is my favorite, but that thought may have crossed my mind a time or two. We are like Adam hiding in the bushes. The excuses are creative, inventive, and so very wrong. The right answer is confession and repentance, but making excuses tends to come to mind quickly. We look up in hope for that day when the heart is cleansed by the blood of the Lamb and there is no more sin to make an excuse for, forever and ever. Today, on the other hand, we find it easy, maybe too easy, to make that excuse and hand it to the self.

Near the beginning, we have that funny story. Adam walked with God in the cool of the day. What a privilege! What wonders did God show to Adam during those walks? Then, Adam sinned, and we get that moment. Adam hides in shame and then tries to work in an excuse that blames both God and his wife! "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." Creative, inventive, and so very wrong. The excuse making we face today began right there. Adam's manhood to stand up for his wife, gone. The man's close relationship with his God, hidden in the bushes. The authority who once tended the plants and named the animals of the Garden, cowering in shame and fear. Our attempts at excuses for sin today look just as ridiculous, if we could only see it.

Have a great and awesome day in our great and awesome Lord!
Bucky