"What's Your Excuse?"

We live in a culture that does it all the time...makes excuses for what we do or do not do. That same principle applies to our faith or should I say lack of faith. We all, sometime in our faith journey, have come up with an excuse why we don't accept or follow Jesus Christ. One thing I am certain of that I am so thankful Jesus Christ did not come up with an excuse why he would not die on a cross for you and me!

Webster's Dictionary defines "excuse" as "to ask forgiveness or pardon for oneself; to apologize for; to justify; and to allow one to leave." I tend to think that most of the time when we use the term excuse we mean "to justify" our actions. When it comes to accepting Jesus Christ we can come up with some very unique excuses. My favorite one is "if Jesus knew what I have done he would not want to have anything to do with me!" I like that one because Jesus ALREADY KNOWS what we have done and he still wants a relationship with him!

I am so thankful that when Christ went to the cross he did not say to his Father..."couldn't this wait until another time?" or "ya know I really haven't given this enough thought yet!" Instead he went to the cross willingly for you and me; thus we need to stop making excuses and start accepting the gift.

Remember following Jesus Christ does not mean your bank account is going to start miraculously increasing or that nothing will every go wrong in your life...that just isn't the case. But following Jesus Christ does guarantee that no matter what happens you have him to call on or lean on.

So the next time you think that you have an excuse why you don't accept the gift from Christ, remember he did not have an excuse when he died on a cross out of love for you. In fact, he outstretched his arms to remind us that if we ever need a hug his arms are always open for us!