“It’s time to make a change – Stop with the Excuses”

Personally, I am an individual who does not like excuses. I really don’t! When individuals come to me with excuses, I think to myself, this person does not want to grow. They see everyone else’s actions but their own. It’s a deflect and blame game, with a rationale why it is not them but everyone else.

Subordinates who have worked closely with me, know that I have this saying, “Give it to me straight”. Meaning, don’t beat around the bush and try to hide anything when blunders take place. If you made a mistake (as we all do from time to time), then come clean with me, so that I can understand what happened and support you in putting things right. 

Making excuses is a pet peeve with me and I feel strongly about it. I believe everyone should have, carved out time of reflection and self-examination daily. As Michael Jackson told us, “Look at the man in the mirror”, because change should always start with him.

Excuses have so many downsides and it curtails our growth, yet still we seem to love to make them in every facet of our lives. We have excuses as to why we are in a negative financial situation, excuses as to why we are overweight, excuses as to why we have this dead end job, excuses as to why you and someone else does not get along. Excuses, excuses, and more excuses!

Stop with the EXCUSES….!

After a while, we start to believe the excuses, we churn out. They become our reality and box us into stagnation and cripple our development. Not only does excuses cause harm, but some of them are detrimental because in life, some things are meant to be done before it is too late. I will highlight 3 reasons that usually cause us to make excuses.

  • Fear and Comfort Zone.

One of the common reasons people make excuses is because of fear.  The fear that they would get in trouble, fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of making a mistake, fear of being exposed and vulnerable. Fear sometimes keeps us in our comfort zones and sometimes staying in a comfort zone too long isn’t good. So, if an opportunity is ahead of you, make sure and grab it before it is too late. Holding excuses close to your bosom causes you to miss out on many blessings and beautiful things in life.

Let us be reminded, that God did not give us a spirit of fear but of Power, and love and of a sound mind –2 Timothy 1:7

  • Procrastination and Laziness.

A popular cliché states, “Procrastination is the thief of time” and this is well coined. So many things we procrastinate on, then in the end we are served with regret and anxiety. Thus, causing us to now scramble to reclaim lost time. Yes, Parkinson’s Law gets us every time. But as believers we must work and work hard as unto the lord regardless of what kind of boss we have. Do everything in our life with excellence.

Let us be reminded, that, “whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” as noted in Colossians 3:23 and several times in Proverbs.

  • Comparison and Self-Doubt

Another reason which causes us to make excuses, is when we compare ourselves to others or we simply harbour too much self-doubt. We see others excelling and we say to ourselves that we cannot do what they are doing. Mind you, we have never tried but we make these limiting statements. We defeat ourselves before we even begin.

Let us be reminded, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) and we can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13)

While I listed the things above, they were simply to act as teasers to get us thinking about moving forward from a secular standpoint and to stop being held back by excuses. But I really want this blog to be one of two halves, with the latter speaking about our excuses with God.

There are so many excuses we like to make when it comes to serving God. Sometimes it seems like, we even make more excuses when it comes to heavenly things, versus the earthly; how sad! We love to make excuses when it comes to making the right spiritual decisions. My friend, such an excuse prone attitude will not augur well for you.

I am sure that someone who comes across this blog might be:

  1. A backslider, that is caught in two opinions about returning to the kingdom of God. So many things have happened and you are wondering if to come back to God or not. Stop making excuses about why it is so hard to come back and just do it. Remember, like the prodigal son, God is waiting for you with open arms.
  2. A believer who wants to go to the next level in God. But you are not reading, fasting, or praying as you should. Then when asked about this, excuses are given regarding long working hours, no time, I don’t like the church I currently attend so I need to change. We give everything apart from the man in the mirror reasons.
  3. An unbeliever who believes in another God beside Jehovah/Yahweh or no God at all. You refuse to believe in God but when you look around nature itself clearly shows God’s power and divinity. The bible states in Romans 1:20 that you are without excuse, because God is clearly seen in the splendour of the environment which is all around us.

Yes, a blog of two halves. I am not sure which have you fall into. To be honest, I think I fall into some of both, the physical and the spiritual.

The first aspect is self-awareness of the excuses we make, and once that takes place, we must now act and replace one E for another, strike out excuses and replace it with effort.

And a good way to start it, is by applying what Philippians 3:13 states, “Forgetting what is behind, and press toward what is ahead”. Stop complaining, stop giving excuses and move towards claiming the blessings which God has in store for you.

Dane Miller was last seen reciting two quotes:

“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.” ― Benjamin Franklin

“No one ever excused his way to success.” ― Dave Del Dotto

PS: Dane Miller was last seen with water and a cloth polishing a big mirror.

Your Brother in the Lord,

Dane Miller | Authored Book – “God is the Author, I am the Pen”

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