Excuses, Excuses, Excuses
				    By John J. Clark


	Have you ever noticed that certain words seem to become vogue
according to the fad of the day? Words and phrases like: self-
realization, self-help, bran-fibre, natural-child-birth, entrepreneur, 
home-schooling, networking, "Herbalife" - all these have become the 
modern catch words of the 80's. Yet for the child of God there is a 
word that never seems to be out of fashion to those who are determined 
to be successful in their walk with the Lord: faithfulness.
	Now before you say, "What a boring subject" and drop this
message, with a yawn, into the trash, please at least consider
being challenged with a few of the things that follow. You see,
people that are unfaithful in their relationship with the Lord make
it very difficult for God to get any messages to them. They throw
the church's newsletters away without bothering to read them,
"Boring stuff" they say, and the avenue is cut off. They only
sporadically go to Sunday School or Bible Study because they can't
seem to get up or get out or are to tired or the kids are to sick and it
requires the entire family to stay home and hold the little fry's
hand. So God can't use the teacher to get His message across.
	Church attendance itself is so erratic that God Himself can
barely predict when they will be there. Any little thing on
Saturday night or Sunday morning can easily prevent them from
getting there. Sunday evening service is, of course, out of the
question. As a result, any special messages that the pastor may
receive for the flock never gets to the unfaithful. The biggest
bane of it all is that whenever the pastor is moved by the Spirit
to bring message that is about unfaithfulness to warn the unfaithful,
they are almost never there to hear it.
	Like I said before, it is difficult to get to the unfaithful
with  the message of their unfaithfulness because they are never
around to hear it and they never take the time to read it. So, what
would I say if some miracle happened and I could get their ear?
Well, that all depends on their excuses for being unfaithful. Let's
start with the main things I have heard as a pastor over the years,
remembering that excuses are like tongues, to which I will give the
interpretation from past experience: 

	  EXCUSE #1098.34, "It seems like I am never home anymore and
	  Sunday is the only day I can spend with my family."

  INTERPRETATION: "I'd just about do anything before I'd go to church." 
When Jesus was told that His family was outside and wanted to see
Him, He responded that the people that obeyed God and kept His
commandments were in reality His family. This may sound a little
harsh, but if your family doesn't want to be in church on Sunday,
as the scriptures command believers, then when you stay home with
them you are telling them that it isn't really very important to
you either. Think about it, if your precious little family wanted
to spend more time with you, they could come to church with you.
Using your family as a skirt to hide behind is the equivalent to
what Ananias tried to do when he only offered Peter part of the
money he received for the land. It is pretending full commitment
to God while remaining in your own little world. It killed Ananias,
and it will eventually kill the unfaithful too (Please notice: I
am not using scripture references because any faithful christian
knows where the references are already).

     EXCUSE #978.01, "I never seem to be able to get up in early enough
     to get to church on time."

INTERPRETATION: "I'm too lazy to bother getting up for something that low
on my list of priorities." There are three church times on Sunday: 9:15
A.M. Sunday School offers good Bible centered instruction for those
who can somehow roll out of the sack anytime before 8:00 A.M.; a
10:30 A.M. Worship Service for anyone that can manage to pry their
body up by 9:30 A.M.; and a 6:30 P.M. service for anyone that needs
to sleep all night and all day too. Friend, if anyone is that lousy
with exhaustion, call me and the elders will come over to pray for
them because they need healing! Where the heart is, the body will
soon appear. That is why so many bodies rarely appear in the House
of the Lord, their heart is somewhere else.

EXCUSE #3798.23, "I have just lost interest in going to church."

     INTERPRETATION: "I haven't spent enough time in prayer and communion
with God to fill a thimble and now my heart has found other gods to follow
because I didn't give this one the time of day." People never just loose
interest, they only redirect it. My own heart is very easily
distracted by the world, its joys and toys, but if I am every going
to be of service to God and of ministry to others I can ill afford
to follow my interests. I must, instead, direct my interests in the
direction of the revelation of God and His Word. I have discovered
that when I direct my interest toward Him, He soon more than
captivates is and it is there I find my chief joy. A man may loose
interest in his wife, but does that mean that it is right or that
he should neglect coming home occasionally? No, he should take hold
of his soul and get it back on track. David said, "Bless the Lord, O
my soul" - meaning, "Soul, you are going to bless the Lord." The
soul of man is his interest center and it must be directed as
blessing the Lord. If you have lost interest in going to church,
try coming this Sunday and getting it back!

       EXCUSE #2354.07, "I don't feel church is that necessary, but I go
       occasionally." (There are two main interpretations to this
       message.)

 INTERPRETATION #1: "I don't think God is that necessary for daily living
but I go occasionally to ease my conscience." This is the story line for
"two timers." Two timers are "Christians" that only show up for
Easter and Christmas services. To them, service to God is just
showing up for church occasionally and expecting to be received by
an overjoyed pastor and congregation. Besides, these are safe
services to attend because the preachers certainly wouldn't want
to scare these folks away with a harsh message on "shallow living"
or "heading for hell without knowing it."

INTERPRETATION #2: "I have to think this or be faced with the truth that
I'm only a christian in my own mind and headed for hell because I really 
don't know God and He doesn't know me." I am terrified for all the people
that are caught up in this hypocritical trap and don't even realize
it. I pray the God of heaven would wake up the slumbering heart to
His fire, but alas, they are never around the fire of the Holy
Spirit and His people so as to catch the blaze. Any effort by the
pastor or leaders to go to them is resisted as bothersome, an
intrusion or "wanting something." There is one more excuse that
should be self explanatory.

      EXCUSE #785.04, "The church is only interested in money, money,
      money."

   INTERPRETATION: "I am mainly interested in money, money, money and
the church can't have any more than an occasional tip." Enough said here.

     There are more excuses but to go on would only be redundant.
The problem is in the heart and only those who are really true to
their own heart will ever have the courage to look deep inside to
see if they are being honest before God and man. Are you being
honest before God? Where will you be this Sunday morning? Why?

jjc
GEnie Mail - J.Jefferson
Comments and appendum's welcome