“But all the guests made excuses. The first one said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go look at it. Please excuse me.’ 19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen; I must go and try them. Please excuse me.’20 A third person said, ‘I just got married; I can’t come.’21 So the servant returned and told his master what had happened. Then the master became angry and said, ‘Go at once into the streets and alleys of the town, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’22 Later the servant said to him, ‘Master, I did what you commanded, but we still have room.’23 The master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes, and urge the people there to come so my house will be full. 24 I tell you, none of those whom I invited first will eat with me.’ “ Luke 14:18-29 (New Century Version)
Did you ever get a letter asking you to report for jury duty? If so, what was your reaction? From what I’ve been able to find out, most (but certainly not all) folks immediately begin thinking of an excuse that will allow them to be released from serving.
For example, one lady told a Chicago judge she had four tickets to one of Oprah’s last tapings before the program went off the air. (The judge excused her from serving.)
Now there are good excuses for not being on a jury. Michael Wylie had such an excuse. It was a number of years ago that he was sent the letter to report. Wylie ignored the letter. A few more letters went out, but still he didn’t respond. Since ignoring a jury duty letter is a criminal act in Massachusetts, officials filed documents against Mr. Wylie.
But, as I say, Mr. Wylie had a good excuse. That excuse was Mr. Wylie was dead. In fact he died shortly after the first letter had been sent out. Unfortunately nobody bothered to check. According to the state’s deputy jury commissioner, the criminal complaint against Mr. Wylie will be removed.
Obviously most folks don’t have as ironclad an excuse from jury duty as did Mr. Wylie. Most of us just find serving on jury duty to be an inconvenience. We feel that serving on jury duty gets in the way of our plans and upsets our routine.
“So what’s the point?” you ask.
You will have a had time searching through the Scriptures to find any excuse good enough for rejecting Jesus Christ as Savior from your sins. It’s as impossible to find as a one-ended stick, a one link chain; for the simple reason that there just isn’t one.
That should not surprise any of us because what excuse could be good enough for rejecting the grace of God. If it would mean you could gain the whole world by rejecting Christ as Savior from sin that would not be a good enough excuse (an excuse is a reason stuffed with a lie) for some day even this world would slip out of your dead cold fingers. After all, what Jesus offers us is eternal life, eternal joy peace; paradise with him where no death or pain or separation exists.
The other side of the coin is that when it came to going to the Cross for us and suffering pain and shame and death Christ made no excuses to us for not doing so! “Who for the joy set before him, endured the Cross, despising the shame.” The Joy before him was the joy of seeing you and I in heaven with Him. That is unspeakable joy. Thank God for such loving grace.
Therefore, it is not surprising to hear the apostle Paul say in Romans 1:20 , “……But since the beginning of the world those things have been easy to understand by what God has made. So people have no excuse for the bad things they do.”
No Excuse(s)!
God is a good God and he is only a prayer away!
Be Blessed
Pastor Bob