How does God respond when I make excuses for my sin?

1 Samuel 15:22“What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.”

God sees through pious attempts to excuse sin. He wants obedience, not excuses for disobedience.

Genesis 4:10-11The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood.”

Matthew 25:26, 30The master replied, “You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate. . . . Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Excusing sin will not be overlooked by God. We can’t hide from him, so we shouldn’t bother trying. We will only set ourselves up for future judgment.

Ezekiel 33:20I judge each of you according to your deeds.

1 Peter 1:17Remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.”

Sooner or later we must learn to stop making excuses for our actions and start being responsible for what we do. Excuses are cover-ups, attempts to make us look good when we haven’t done good. Taking responsibility for our actions is the best way to deal with the inevitable consequences.