What's your excuse?

What's Your Excuse?

It seems that when it comes to why people do not go to church or why they aren't christians the excuses can be endless.  But, in the end it's all they are: Excuses!

There is no excuse that is good enough out there that gives us a pass from not being an active part of  "THE BODY OF CHRIST", that is what the church is(read I Corinthians 12:12-31).  That means that we must not only "attend" church services, but more importantly, we must be "committed" to serving and being active AS THE church.

There is also no excuse out there to stop going to church or being a part of the local church body.  How many times have I heard people say they got mad at someone, they got their feelings hurt, or the preacher didn't visit them, or they missed church and no one noticed.....etc....etc.....we can make all the excuses, find all the reasons, and justify every one of them, but the bottom line is, it's an excuse.  Many stop going to church all together or they "church hop" everytime they don't get there way or like something.

People C'mon!  If you had a bad experience at one restaurant would you avoid every eating at a restaurant again? If you went to Wal-Mart and a cashier was rude to you or made you mad, would you stop going to Wal-mart or boycott all Wal-marts or deparment stores?  Absolutely Not! So we cannot with all honesty blame one person or one church for us giving up on God or our faith.  The problem with everyone's faith and attitude about church or God is internal, meaning the problem is us, not the church and not others.

Truth is, there are bad churches out there. Truth is, there are people out there who are christians who are mean, dishonest, rude, and selfish and they hurt people.  I can be honest and say some of my deepest hurts in this life have come at the expense of people who called themselves Christians and was part of the church.   Truth is, the church is made up of imperfect people and also people who  are so harded the Holy Spirit can't convict them or they are so selfish they have hardly a conscience and satan has a foothold in their lives or that church, but that doesn't make all Christians bad or all churches bad.

We need to stop making excuses to avoid going to church and being faithful to God.   Whether we like it or not, Jesus Christ after His resurrection from the dead for our sins, He established the church and if He did that, it's pretty important, not optional to our faith.  If He felt the church was important enough to compare it to His body and we are a part of His body, then we need to take it serious and stop making excuses to avoid it or not be a committed part to it by giving of our time, our talents, or our treasures.

We also need to understand that if we "call"  ourselves a Christian or we are a member of a church, that more is expected of us.  Some of you reading this today might be that negative part of the church or the one giving christianity a bad name,  no excuse for people to not go to church or be christians, but we all could help by being a more positive part of the church and being a better example of our faith in God, people have enough excuses to not go to church, don't make it easier for them.

Reality, is God wants you to be a part of His church and He wants you to be a devoted Christian and follower of His.  Excuses aren't going to cut it and they will not be accepted by God. Do not let satan, lousy christians, bad churches, or most of all lame excuses keep you from being a part of the Body of Christ(the Church) or serving God and giving to Him as a Christian.

 If someone makes you mad at a church, pray for them, or if it's serious be honest with them and confront them, or take it to the church leadership, or if you're sin a situation that seems like it's not going to get better, than move on, but find another place to serve and worship, don't stop going or being a christian because of one person or one bad church experience.  Church is bigger than one local church and christian faith is bigger than one person who isn't practicing their faith.  Stop makign excuses and start being a positive part of the church body and work on your personal walk with Jesus.

Romans 1:20(NIV)
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.