Let there be No Excuses!

It is amazing what excuses my clients make and give for not doing what I am asking them to do to be reunified with their children. It was this morning I was in court for a dispositional hearing to evaluate the parent's progress towards reunification. However, due to the parent's lack of progress, or should I say because of their excuses for lack of readiness to be a parent, the judge closed the case. At the conclusion of the hearing, and before closing the case I heard the judge say to my clients "I'm getting tired of the excuses." After hearing the judge say this, it made me wonder if God ever grow tired of unbelievers making excuses for not coming to Christ. Like my clients, we are constantly pursuing interests other than what's really important.

"And they all with one consent began to make excuses."

Today, people have all sorts of excuses why they do not want to come to Christ. While people have many different reasons for not coming to Christ, and accepting him into their heart...I would like to note that these excuses are not reasons, but excuses. These excuses can range from, the timing is inconvenient, not being ready to give up certain things, still want to enjoy life, and have a good time... and if I can be honest, these are the excuses of my clients. But James 4:14 tells us, "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."  While I am always amused by the different excuses they come up with, I remember before I became saved, I too had an excuse. In the parable of the Great Banquet, found in Luke 14:18, Jesus said, “but they all began making excuses.” Interesting.

In Luke 14 verses 15-24, we read...

15 Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!” 16 Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. 17 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ 18 But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ 19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 Another said, ‘I now have a wife, so I can’t come.’ 21 “The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ 22 After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ 23 So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. 24 For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.”

In Jesus' parable, we see that God prepared a great banquet and invited many guests. However, when the time of the banquet arrived, they each made excuses so as not to attend. From reading, we see there were three excuses given. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and must inspect it. (Luke 14:18)." Another said, 'I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. (14:19). "Still another said, 'I now have a wife, so I can't come'" (14:20).  It is here we see that the invited guests made their excuses as to why they couldn't attend the banquet. They turned down the invitation to the banquet because the timing was inconvenient. Interestingly, the excuses offered by these people when invited to the banquet sounds very similar to what one hears from many when they get an invitation to salvation. The point of the parable is that things of this world were priorities for the excuse makers.
Being a social worker, I think I may have heard it all when it comes to excuses, and why they are not making their child a priority. Like them, when we make excuses about salvation, we are saying that Jesus isn't as important as other priority in our lives. Truth is, it is God's will that everyone be saved. And if you know that you are not saved, you should get saved today. For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Note: God does not force people to come to him; He simply invites, but we must accept the invitation. He says, “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” Revelation 22:17. 

CONCLUSION

Don't make any more excuses! After reading the parable of the Great Banquet, hopefully you'll see that the parable touches on something deeper. The parable of the great banquet concerns salvation. It signifies God's kingdom. Remember, everyone is invited, but we should not make excuses at the time that he is inviting us...because His invitation doesn't last forever.