I was once a Bible-breathing-on-fire young man, ready to change the world.
I did my share of shaking things up. But then life got in the way — Marriage. Kids. Jobs. Career. A mortgage. Soon, I had every excuses, every reasons why I couldn’t change the world.
And I’m still using them.
Only now, I use my past as an excuse, littered with selfishness and broken relationships. I have proven inadequacies, personal chinks in my armor that I know leave me vulnerable. I have doubts and uncertainties about my abilities. “Pick someone else,” I pray.
Indeed, if you are like me, we are all beset by sins and failures, fears and temptations. I hope to get a grip on the ball, but it slips out of my grasp.
Paul had a similar conversation with some first-century believers. He acknowledged all the excuses in 1 Cor 1:26-29. “Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many of you were influential. Not many were of noble birth”
Well, that sums up most of the Christians I know. We are a ragtag group of nobodies.
Things are pretty bleak out there. Wars. Weather. Terrorism. Anger. Despair. It’s all around us and there is urgency for God’s elect to redeem the culture – to change the world.
So what’s my excuse?