Be Kind to Everyone & Our Lame Excuses

As written and presented by

Mary Whelchel

Be Kind to Everyone & Our Lame Excuses

I want to look at the lame excuses we often use to try to cover up or justify ourselves. I often think of a prayer I read in a wonderful little book called A Dairy of Private Prayer, that simply says, "Make me willing to make the same excuses for others that I make for myself." That
convicted me because I realized how easily I excuse myself, but how often I refuse to let others off the hook.


Here is one of our lame excuses: That's just the way I am!


How often have you heard someone excuse their poor behavior or their bad habits with this lame excuse? For example, I think of a person who shoots off her mouth indiscriminately, not thinking before she speaks, using words with careless abandon, and harming people in the process. She
obviously recognizes that this is not the way she should speak, yet she lets herself off the hook by declaring, "That's just the way I am!" Another version of that is, "I call 'em like I see 'em." Or "I speak my mind."


Proverbs 18:21 says that, The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who live it will eat its fruit. Every time we open our mouth, we are using a powerful instrument that can do great good, or used inappropriately, can inflict great harm. Whoever said, "Sticks and stones
may break my bones, but words will never hurt me," simply wasn't giving you the whole truth. Words can and do hurt, and the hurt can go deeper than physical blows.


You've heard people excuse bad habits this way. For example, someone who is habitually late to everything, inconveniencing others and wasting their time, and then they say, "Sorry, but I'm always late. Just the way I am!" They try to make it seem inconsequential, no big deal, by excusing themselves with That's just the way I am!


The way we are in our old natures is not the way Jesus wants us to be. He wants us as Christians to grow into his likeness with ever increasing glory, so instead of using lame excuses to let ourselves off the hook, we need to make these areas a focus of prayer, asking God to change
us. Because the way we are is not the way God wants us to be. So, don't use that lame excuse anymore-That's just the way I am! It doesn't fly with God, and people don't like it too well, either.
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