When they came near the camp,
Moses saw the calf and the dancing, and he burned with anger. He threw the stone tablets to the ground,
smashing them at the foot of the mountain. He
took the calf they had made and burned it. Then he ground it into powder, threw
it into the water, and forced the people to drink it. Finally, he turned to Aaron and demanded,
“What did these people do to you to make you bring such terrible sin upon
them?” “Don’t get so upset, my lord,”
Aaron replied. “You yourself know how
evil these people are. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow
Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.’ So
I told them, ‘Whoever has gold jewelry, take it off.’ When they brought it to me, I simply threw it
into the fire—and out came this calf!” Exodus 32:19-24 (NLT)
This week we are creating an
“UN-Shopping List” – things we should throw out of our life’s shopping
basket. So far we’ve tossed “weak faith”
and “stubbornness.
Today the text identifies another
common hindrance to growing in Christ; an issue that must be tossed if you want
to be Christ’s disciple - excuses.
Rafael Septien had the most classic of excuses. He was the field goal kicker for the Dallas
Cowboys. It was 1985 in a game at Texas
Stadium. He missed the kick badly. It was among the poorest attempts at offering
an excuse by mankind...ever! His
excuse? The grass was too long. Texas Stadium doesn't have grass, it has
artificial turf.
Aaron didn't have a reason for making the golden calf idol,
but he did have an excuse.
One of the things that keep us from being forgiven (either
by God or our fellow humans) is thinking an excuse can take the place of
confession. Very seldom will you hear
someone say, "I was wrong." As a
society we are so into offering excuses for our behavior - we call it
syndromes, maladies, adjustment aberrations -- we call it anything but SIN!
The one thing you will note about the end of this
chapter is that God eventually punished Israel with a plague, because they
sinned and did not repent. By contrast,
when King David sinned, it was his confession that saved him (see Psalm
51).
We sing the song, "Christ Receiveth Sinful
Men." It should be noted by this
that the sinful people Christ receives are those who are willing to admit it,
and come to Him, filthy, undeserving, and admittedly lost -- not those who
simply have had an "unfortunate time and circumstance" and need a
blessing.
To believe in Jesus, and follow Him as a disciple
means you accept the fact that you need Him, and can't be saved without
Him. And then you confess that without
excuse, and trust Him to receive you just like He said He would.
For You Today:
This year - No
excuses! Get them out of your basket; Toss 'em.
Thanks, Russ. You keep me thinking. At times I have a nasty habit of telling the truth, some people don't like hearing what I say, but it is hard for me to lie.
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