2 Corinthians 9:6-11
When parents ask why their son or daughter didn’t do what was asked, the response is often an excuse. “I didn’t hear you,” “I didn’t have time,” and “I didn’t realize you wanted it done right away” are familiar statements to moms and dads.
In a similar way, we tend to offer a wide variety of justifications to the Father; “excusitis” is all too common an ailment. Excuses are an attempt to shift responsibility for what we’ve done (or failed to do) to something or someone besides ourselves.
We may fail to achieve God’s plans for another reason: greed. Selfishness won’t help us succeed in His kingdom. But generosity—giving as the Lord commands, taking the opportunity to speak words of encouragement, or using our time to help others—brings blessing.
Acting against our conscience is another hindrance. It makes us double-minded: We feel guilty over our action but want to continue anyway. In this condition, we find our concentration diminishes, preventing us from putting our wealth of experience, ability, and talent into the work God has assigned us.
One last obstacle is laziness, which is often accompanied by many excuses and yields the same result: disobedience to God. For example, the Lord commands all of us to practice the “one anothers” (Rom. 12:9-16), but frequently His instruction goes ignored because it takes too much effort.
With the Holy Spirit’s help, we can overcome these common negative tendencies. Which one is He prompting you to work on?
