The Excuses for Sin
The Excuses for Sin
The human being, with all of his inheritance from Adam, is incurably addicted to making excuses. This was forcibly brought to my attention by a news item from Vancouver, British Columbia. A man was sentenced to jail for one year for breaking into a cafe in the middle of the night. He was caught red-handed inside the cafe with the cash register open. Nevertheless, he protested his innocence in court, and even when he was sentenced, departed for jail claiming that he was the victim of circumstances. His defense was that as he was walking along the street he had stumbled and fallen into a window, which had broken. When he saw the two panes of glass had been destroyed, he opened the window and entered in order to leave his name and address, so that he could make good the damage. Having no pencil, he went to the cash register to look for one, and was in the middle of the good deed when he was arrested. The story was just a little too much for the jury and the man went to jail! immediately began to think of Adam, who, when he was caught running away, tried to cast the blame back on God, saying in effect, If you had given me another kind of wife, this wouldn't have happened "the woman thou gavest me . . ." (Gen. 3:12). The woman excused herself by putting the blame upon the serpent. When Abraham was caught in a lie by Abimelech, he stumbled around making it worse by the flimsy excuses he presented. The Lord Jesus told the parable about the men who would not come to a feast. One had "married a wife," and could not come. Another had bought a yoke of oxen and had to test them. A third had bought a field and had to go to see it. The first man could have brought his wife with him, the oxen could have been tested the next day, and the field would still have been there at any later date.
There is a vast difference between an excuse and a reason. There may be some validity in the latter, but not in the former. We are told that in the judgment day, "a hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies" (Isa. 28:17).
I have often remarked throughout my ministry that most people, when overtaken in sin, are more concerned with public opinion than they are with God. Since the time of Adam the effects of the Fall have been more marked from generation to generation, and "saving face" is just as important in one part of the world as it is in another. One of the holiest exercises that any Christian can perform is that of getting down on his face before God and asking to be shown a clear revelation of himself in such a light that no excuses can be offered to lighten the explanation of his folly.
1. What are some typical excuses that you hear people make? Think about why they make those excuses. Then honestly evaluate yourself, do you make the same or similar excuses?
2. How is it that sin is so deceptive that we do not even notice when it is alive and well in our being?
