“There’s one thing that people do not realize about excuses.”

A thought by Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend from their book, It's Not My Fault. (pg. 27) Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

So, what is it, Bill?

The guys say, “They are usually true.”

They go on, “But my response to that is, So what? Yes, your excuse is real. Now, given that, what are you going to do about it? Your excuses do not change one single thing. It is up to you to do that. Get past the excuses and get on with it.

“• It is true that you do not have time to work out. So what? What are you going to do about that?

“• It is true that you do not have a supportive church for your emotional issues. So what? What are you going to do about that?

“• It is true that a particular person in your life is not giving you what you deserve. So what? What are you doing to do to deal with that?

“• It is true that not one good, single eligible person is showing up at your door. So what? What are you going to do about that?

“• It is true that your particular metabolism allows easy weight gain. So what? What are you going to do about that?”

I’ve used the metabolism excuse.

They continue, “Remember, in the parable of the talents the one with no result had a good excuse. He did not have a lot, to begin with, and according to him, his master was a tough sell. But God comes along and says, ‘So what? You should have faced that reality and done something with it.’

“The good news is this: you can. You can do something with your reality. Taking ownership and responsibility for your life does not mean that you have to fix it alone. God will be with you and will work miracles. He is a God who answers. He is a God who parts the Red Sea and feeds thousands out of a few fishes and loaves. But he also asks us to own our responsibility—to name the animals, to dig our talent out of the ground, and to make difficult relationships work. He invites us to do that. And if we do, he will do the things that we are unable to do. But he won’t do the things that we can do for ourselves. That is the created order. God will do the ‘God things,’ and we have to do the ‘people things.’

“And here is even more good news: there is help even when we can’t do the people things. Even if we can’t say no to a hamburger with our name on it, God will help us develop that ability when we own that problem and begin to deal with it. He does not think we are going to be able to do things we can’t do. Addicts who admit their powerlessness as the first step know this well. But when we can’t do it, God does ask us to take responsibility and ownership of the situation and to ask for his help and the help of others.”

They then say, “If you take that first step, things can change. Or you can blame the hamburger. It is up to you.”

Let’s go to God and ask Him to do His things and then we do our things.  You see, don’t you that teamwork with God can really make a difference?

Yes, yes!