"That's just not my gift."
This one's a great catch-all for avoiding a responsibility that we don't want to own up to. We can use it to justify an alarming range of things, such as not inviting our neighbors to church, not spending time in personal Bible study and prayer, or not being organized enough to meet deadlines or return phone calls.
"I'm waiting for God to open a door."
Okay, I realize that there are times when God legitimately says "Hey, stay where you are, serve the best you can, and wait until I tell you to do something different." But this phrase is most often used as an excuse to stay put and be lazy.
"God told me..."
Hey, if God said it to you, who am I to argue, right? Yes, the same disclaimer applies here as I'm waiting for God to open a door: Sometimes God does speak, and when he does, we need to listen. But too often I think when we say "God told me" what we really mean is "I really want God to be okay with this."
"It's just a season."
This is a phrase when there is a chronic issue going on that we just don't want to deal with, especially being too busy at the expense of your family or your relationship with God. A few years ago, there was a three-month time span where tons of "ministry stuff" seemed to happen at once. Pastoral emergencies seemed to occur about every other day, lots of ministry events happened in a relatively short time span, and I was preaching a lot at a campus our church had recently opened. I found myself saying, "It's just a season" to my wife a whole lot. Yes, there are times when being a pastor requires more of our time than others, but even in busy seasons, there is plenty I can do to serve my family in the way God asks me to.
What excuses would you add to this list?
