Make Changes, Not Excuses

My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor detest His correction.

Proverbs 3:11

In 1983, as a thirteen-year-old, Tommy Moe was offered an endorsement to ski competitively. But he was caught sneaking out of camp to smoke marijuana and was banned from competitions. Tommy’s father, an Alaskan construction worker, ordered him to come home. After Tommy had spent the Arctic summer laboring twelve to sixteen hours a day, his father asked him if he’d rather be a construction worker or part of the ski team training in Argentina. “It humbled me up pretty fast,” Tommy said. And it showed. At age fifteen, Tommy was invited to the US National Alpine Championships in Colorado, and at the 1994 Olympics, he took gold in the men’s downhill.

How do you respond to your heavenly Father’s correction? God may correct us through a friend, a boss, a coach, a pastor—or He may put the need for self-correction in our own hearts. Just think what would have happened to the gospel message if the apostle Paul had not responded to Christ’s confrontation on the Damascus road (Acts 9). When God shows you that change is needed in your life, don’t make excuses. Instead, make the change.

An excuse is nothing more than an argument disguised as a reason.

You must learn to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.

JAY ADAMS