3/6/19

Excuses by Gary Rose




I remember being told: excuses are like toenails- “they aren’t pretty, but we all have them”. Interesting saying, but a rather poor way of living one’s life. What is an excuse anyway?

My Wordnet dictionary defines it as:
The noun excuse has 3 senses (first 1 from tagged texts)
1. (10) excuse, alibi, exculpation, self-justification -- (a defense of some offensive behavior or some failure to keep a promise etc.; "he kept finding excuses to stay"; "every day he had a new alibi for not getting a job"; "his transparent self-justification was unacceptable")
2. excuse -- (a note explaining an absence; "he had to get his mother to write an excuse for him")
3. apology, excuse -- (a poor example; "it was an apology for a meal"; "a poor excuse for an automobile")

The verb excuse has 6 senses (first 4 from tagged texts)
1. (2) excuse, pardon -- (accept an excuse for; "Please excuse my dirty hands")
2. (2) excuse, relieve, let off, exempt -- (grant exemption or release to; "Please excuse me from this class")
3. (2) excuse, explain -- (serve as a reason or cause or justification of; "Your need to sleep late does not excuse your late arrival at work"; "Her recent divorce may explain her reluctance to date again")
4. (1) apologize, apologise, excuse, justify, rationalize, rationalise -- (defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning; "rationalize the child's seemingly crazy behavior"; "he rationalized his lack of success")
5. excuse, beg off -- (ask for permission to be released from an engagement)
6. excuse, condone -- (excuse, overlook, or make allowances for; be lenient with; "excuse someone's behavior"; "She condoned her husband's occasional infidelities")

To me, giving an excuse means giving a reason for not doing something you know that you should be doing. The excuse in the picture refers to the Gospel of John, so lets take a moment and read it...


John 3 (LitV1
Joh 3:1, But there was a man from the Pharisees, Nicodemus his name, a ruler of the Jews.
Joh 3:2, This one came to Jesus by night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that You have come as a teacher from God. For no one is able to do these miraculous signs which You do, except God be with Him.
Joh 3:3, Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, If one is not generated from above 2 (ανωθεν in Greek, emphasis added), he is not able to see the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:4, Nicodemus said to Him, How is a man able to be generated, being old? He is not able to enter into his mother's womb a second time and be born?
Joh 3:5, Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, If one is not generated out of water and Spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:6, That having been generated out of the flesh is flesh, and that having been generated out of the Spirit is spirit.


When someone says “I was born this way” I don’t believe them for a second. Why? Because not one person I have ever known can remember something before the age of three, let alone from their birth. What they are really saying is: I only remember being this way. Therefore, they really don’t what they were like in the first few years of their life and don’t realize what they are actually saying.

Human beings need a Spiritual birth to be right with God, not excuses. Jesus said so (in verses 3 and 5 above) and that settles it. We may have excuses (“logical reasons”) for why we do the things we do, but it is God and God alone who ultimately will be our judge. Other than the “excuse” which God supplies (that is Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins) I know of no reason why God should forgive our sins. Having an “excuse” is just a waste of time and an effort to try to hide from the reality of our sin; don’t do it. Turn to Jesus and LIVE.

1 The Literal translation by J.P. Green

2 Many translations use the word “again”. I prefer from above because this is the actual meaning of the word ανωθεν. All human beings have a physical birth, but a Spiritual birth would be an additional or second birth, so "again" is fine.