No More Excuses

READ LUKE 14:15-24

As some of you know I am reading through the bible this year in chronological order. I have a reading plan and I am supposed to read a certain number of chapters each day. I started this plan in order to have reason and order to my time in the word. It gives me a daily plan of reading so that I will have to sit down and spend time in the word. It was a challenge to live up to and I accepted that challenge.

However, I find myself falling behind. I skip a day or two then have that much more to catch up on the next day. While I was at training, due to other demands on readings from scripture I did not continue with my year plan. I fell a month behind and have tried to play catch up ever since. Reading 10 to 12 chapters everyday trying to get ahead. Even then I find myself not wanting to push through the scripture.

God asked me a few weeks ago to devote my time in the mornings strictly to Him in prayer and reading scripture. I have gotten into a habit of getting up and checking my Facebook. Due to being six or seven hours ahead of most of my 'friends' on Facebook, I am in bed when all the activity happens on the website back home. So I feel a compulsory need to check it as soon as I get up. What have I missed? Who has commented on my posts...

I removed my e-mail notifications from Facebook in order to reduce the amount of times I checked it. However, this has had the opposite affect. I don't know when someone has done something so I want to check it more often.

I agreed to spending that time in the morning strictly with God....well that lasted for about a day. I have come up with one excuse or another to devote that time in the morning to something else. Lesson planning, e-mailing someone that is an absolute necessity, and so on. All my excuses were just to make me feel better for shoving the Lord out of my morning.

This morning in worship God knocked me on my face. 'Stop giving me excuses and give me your time. Who is your god? Me?! HA! You schedule your time with me around everything else you need to get done. Schedule everything else around your time with me.'

Where is my priority? Is it in catching up with my social life, or is it growing my Spiritual life? No more excuses. Because that is just what they are...excuses. I used to tell my students, don't give me excuses, just improve your behavior.