#Fail, Because.....

In my Beautycounter business, I am at the beginning of a new month and am focusing on goal-setting.  In this line of home-based work, every month is like "turning over a new leaf" - - you have to basically "start over" with your business earnings every month.  It's lots of fun, actually.

Well, when setting goals you must, absolutely must, embrace the possibility of failure and at the same time, absolutely refuse to accept your own excuses.

You know, we live in an American culture that is thoroughly saturated with excuse-making.

The utter "far reaches of the universe" example of this is a news story from September 1st, just 4 days ago. Young dude stabs his wife multiple times, ultimately murdering her.  He calls 911, seemingly in a daze to say...wait for it...."the cold medicine made me kill her in my sleep".

Truly.  I am astounded.

Well, we encounter the first excuse - - excuses being at best an apology/explanation and more often the failure to accept responsibility for one's actions, in Genesis 3:12-13 (ESV)

12The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”13Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

The first manifestation of the Fall of Man was that Adam and Eve ran and hid from God, because they did not want their sin exposed.  That's what sin does.  It separates us from a holy God.  Our sin offends a totally holy God, and simultaneously, our sin causes us to rebel against His utter holiness.

This is why we see the first excuses made by Adam and Eve in Genesis 3.  What did they do?  They blamed each other.  Adam blamed Eve; and, Eve blamed Satan, who had manifested in the form of a beautiful animal called the Serpent.  Would be laughable, if it were not so terribly tragic.

The writer of Proverbs addresses excuse-making with a verse that we find in both Proverbs 22:13 and Proverbs 26:13.  The two verses are very similar.  Together, they are an example of ridiculous excuse-making.

The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside! I will be killed in the middle of the streets!" 

22:13

The sluggard says, "There is a lion in the road! A lion in the streets!" 

26:13

There's a lion!!!

Right?  This lazy person (sluggard) is shirking responsibility and using an improbable fear to justify his laziness.

In these two examples from Scripture we see two main reasons that we, in our carnal fallen natures, tend to make excuses:  to avoid responsibility for mistakes or to avoid fulfilling our God-given responsibilities.   The first is reactive; the second is proactive.  Both are sin.

For some people, making excuses is a coping strategy and/or a way of life.  Living this way does not produce successful people, either in the world's eyes or in God's.  If you think about your own life and honestly discover that this is a pitfall for you, ask God for the courage to reverse this trend in your life, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is one thing to apologize and attempt to explain one's mistake.  Doing this with genuine acceptance of responsibility and willingness to make things right - - this is the mark of a humble and godly person.  To do this is righteous and necessary when we have messed up and harmed others.

It is one thing to prioritize and make reasonable goals, as long as our "reasonable" does not hold us back from fulfilling the plans God has in mind for us, due to fear.

What is your "because"?

Great point I'm pondering.

You too?