Creative Excuses

Scripture

Don’t be angry with me. You know as well as I do that they are determined to do evil…They asks me to make them a god…Then I asked them to bring me their gold earrings. They took them off and gave them to me. I threw the gold into a fire, and out came this bull.

~Exodus 32:22-24, CEV

Quote

He that is good at making excuses is seldom good at anything else.

~Benjamin Franklin

Most of us in places of leadership don’t want to hear excuses. It verifies that we have made a mistake in judgment because we are dealing with an irresponsible person. People who get things done, don’t make excuses, they make plans. I was doing my daily bible reading yesterday in the book of Exodus and I came across this hilarious story. It was not amusing to Moses but to us it brings a chuckle. Moses stayed on the mountain too long for the impatient Israelites. So they form a committee and go to Aaron, the associate pastor. “We don’t know what has happened to our pastor and we are tired of waiting. We want you to make us a god to lead us: we are tired of Moses.” Aaron protest, “Are you nuts; I’m not about to make you an idol. We are not to worship graven images. This will irritate the LORD and my brother will be furious.” No, this is not what he said, this is what he should have said: instead he played right into their idolatrous hands by saying, “bring me your gold.” Then he melted the gold and made an image of a bull. I’m sure he got the idea from his Egyptian background but it was very similar to the god Molech and the Canaanites fertility cult gods. The next day they plan a worship celebration around the bull and things got out of hand. It turned into a wild, lewd party, an orgy, full blown.

When Moses gets to camp he is furious and he calls Aaron to give an account…How did things get out of control? How could such a shameful thing happen? This is when Aaron gives Moses this lame excuse. He basically said, “Don’t blame me, you know how these people have a tendency to do evil. All I did was take their gold and throw it in the fire and out popped this bull.” I’d like to know exactly what Moses said next. He knew Aaron’s excuse was bull and you fill in the blank. Come to think of it, I don’t know that there is a lot of difference between a lie and excuse: here they are one in the same. I’m like Moses in the sense that I don’t have much patience with irresponsible people. I was tasks to work with a man some 40 years ago and every time I met with him, he failed to produce his part of the task and he always blamed it on someone else. After the second or third time, I gave up and told them to get someone else. When you slack and don’t pull your weight, don’t blame it on someone else. Get off your lazy rear end and do what you were task to do. Be productive like Moses not a crafty and creative excuse maker like Aaron. Make a difference not an excuse.

Sorry folks, I had this ready to post last night but forgot. I have a lot on my mind and not much mind. Day before yesterday, I forgot to hit the post key, thought I did but didn’t. I may run that blog later. I’ve been in a bible study North of Athens and it has been a busy week. Maybe we will get back on track soon. I sure hope so. If you like the Psalms, you must get Timothy and Kathy Keller’s SONGS OF JESUS. It is the best devotional I’ve ever read and I have read a bunch. Better than STREAMS IN THE DESERT.

 

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