No Excuses

Many years ago, I had the privilege of being a member of the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University. Freshmen in the Corps are known and addressed as "fish," and their lives are highly regulated. As Fish Cox, I was only allowed four "fish answers" to a question by any upper classman. The easy-to-say options were "Sir, Yes Sir," "Sir, No Sir," and "Sir, No excuse Sir." The "I don't know" answer was a little more complicated.:

"SIR! Not being informed to the highest degree of accuracy, I hesitate to articulate for fear that I may deviate from the true course of rectitude. In short, Sir, I am a very dumb fish and do not know, Sir."

Making excuses for failure or transgression was extremely frowned upon. Fish Jones would start trying to explain all his good and valid reasons, but the upperclassman would respond by asking "Are you pissing on my leg?" The next thing Fish Jones knew, he would be on the floor doing pushups. And any of his fish-buddies that were unlucky enough to be in the immediate area? They were pushing too, in solidarity. Good times.

We think of Moses in the Bible as this great leader, but like each of us, he was full of excuses. In Exodus 3, Moses has an incredible God-encounter. At age 80, after being a shepherd for 40 years for his father-in-law, he encounters a fire in the wilderness. A bush is on fire, but isn't burning up. (I have never been a shepherd, but I imagine I would get bored fast. Plus, I am a former Boy Scout and I LOVE playing with fires... So yes, this definitely would have gotten my attention too.) While he was puzzling over the burning bush, God spoke to him out of the fire and gave him a mission-- to go to Pharaoh and to lead the Hebrews, his own people, out of their Egyptian captivity. But like my kids when they were younger and REALLY didn't want to do something, he came up with a series of excuses.

• "But why me? I'm NOBODY!" (Exodus 3:11)

• "But what if they ask WHICH god I am talking to?" (Exodus 3:13)

• "What if they say I am making this all up?" (Exodus 4:1)

• "But I stutter!" (Exodus 4:10)

With each excuse, God responded by countering Moses' argument. I'm sure that given enough time, Moses could have come up with a dozen more excuses, but God had enough already. Exodus 4:14-17 tells us that God's anger began to burn against Moses for all his excuses. God told him that his brother Aaron was a good speaker and would be serve as Moses' mouthpiece. However, no further argument would be tolerated.

Sometimes God gives us a mission, and we immediately start making excuses.

• I'm too old!

• I don't have enough money!

• It's not the right time!

• I'm too sick!

• I'm not talented!

• I don't know anybody there!

• I'm scared of people and afraid of public speaking!

• I could lose my job!

• My friends won't talk to me anymore!

I'm sure each of us could add objections to this list, but what's the point? If God is speaking to you and telling you to do something, my challenge to you is simple. Stop protesting, step out in faith, and just do it.

No excuses.