An End of Excuses

For me, one of the best things about Scripture is how you can have read a passage – even multiple times – and suddenly see something in it that you never really noticed before. Some new truth will be revealed to you. It’s sort of akin to finding $20 in a pair of pants you haven’t worn in years.

This happened to me a couple of weeks ago, and it’s taken me this long to write this post. But I needed to write this, because this truth is very important for my fellow Christians to hear. Or hear again.

Here is the text:

“whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies – in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
1 Peter 4:11

If you attend a church – of any size – you most likely find that said church has difficulty finding enough volunteers for their programs. They’re short on teachers, short on nursery workers, short on people to help clean up, in need of people to do outreach, etc. In every church that I’ve seen, it’s always a small percentage of the congregation that does the lion’s share of the work. The rest of the population just goes to consume. If asked directly, these consumers say something to the effect of, “Well, nursery just isn’t my thing” or “I’m not really a very good teacher”.

Cast your eyes back up to the quoted verse. Pay close attention to the words “the strength that God supplies”. Roll that around in your brain for a second. Those simple words, in the middle of that verse, pretty decisively negate any excuse you could come up with. The truth is, God doesn’t want your strength. He doesn’t need it. He has plenty all by himself. As humans, we tend to take credit for our strengths. God is glorified when we, in our weakness and frailty, use his strength to do his work.

Think about Moses. By his own admission, Moses was a poor speaker. Not only that, but he was an exiled shepherd, just trying to live out a quiet life. Then, God shows up and tells him that he will free the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. In a great example of our humanity, he argues with God about all of the reasons that he’s not qualified. God, essentially, says, “Yes, I know. You’re going anyway, and it’s going to be awesome”. At the end of the day, the only thing Moses had going for him was obedience. That is what God desires. Just our desire to be obedient and use “the strength that God supplies”.

I’ll admit that this revelation makes me feel pretty silly (and more than a little ashamed) for all of the times that I’ve allowed opportunities pass me by. Specifically, I’ve been exceedingly reluctant to share my faith with others. I have a litany of reasons excuses, too:

“I don’t want to seem pushy”.

“I’m not sure that I could convince them of my point of view”.

“I’m still too young in my own faith to share it with others”.

You see where I’m going with this? The only truth in any of this is that I really don’t want to, and I want to rationalize it away, so I don’t have to do anything outside of my comfort zone.

When I read this passage of Scripture, I wasn’t necessarily looking for anything to really shake me up. However, I was moved almost to tears by the truth and simplicity of it, and at the memories of times when I’ve been disobedient because I didn’t want to make myself uncomfortable. On the heels of this, though, I was also reminded of the times when I’ve been most blessed in my spiritual walk. It was those times when I listened for God to tell me where he needed me, and then did what he asked. I’ll be completely honest here, too – it’s always been service in areas that I would never have volunteered for out of my strengths and abilities.

Fellow Christians – it should be no surprise to you that God seeks to advance his glory and that he desires our help in doing so. If you are not currently serving, please take this as my loving chastisement. Get out there and get your hands dirty. God desires a church in motion. 1 Peter 4:11 removes any excuses we have for idly sitting by and letting others do all of the work, while you sit idly on your derriere. Move.

PS. Yes, I compared the Bible to a pair of pants. I also compared the truth of it to a $20 bill. I’ll tell you what, though. I sure feel like checking through the other pockets now!