I’m proposing a new sport for the Beijing Olympic Games. Most of us would qualify with ease. It's not new really. It's as old as Adam and Eve because they were very skilled at it. Some of you are skilled at it. It would be a great Olympic game and therefore a lot of competition. I would call this game Passing the Buck, also known as Dodging a Responsibility or Shifting the Blame. The goal of the game is to eliminate all personal responsibility by accusing everybody else for your problems. A lot of people would be able to play but it would probably be boring - politicians would always win.
I know that life is difficult! And I know that life is sometime grossly unfair. I am aware of the fact that life will many times throw you a curve ball. But one thing I also know: Your life will always be what you make it! The sad reality is that we have become experts at blaming everyone else for our problems in life, and have used it as a cop-out for taking responsibility for making our lives good.
There are the people who have an excuse for everything. They can justify any mistake, any lack of responsibility. They can rationalize any failure. They're always making excuses. They say, "That's just the way I am... I've always been that way." That's the ultimate cop out if you don't want to grow.
Jesus talks about this kind of person in Luke 14. v. 16 "Jesus replied, `A certain man was preparing a great banquet and he had invited many guests. At the time of that banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited to come for everything is now ready. But, they all began to make excuses. The first one said, "I've just bought a field and I must go see it. Please excuse me."' [Isn't that a great excuse? You've been invited to a party and you have a piece of land and say, I've got to go look at it. Couldn't it have waited? Was the land going to do anything?] `Another said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen. I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me." Still another came and said, "I just got married so I can't come."'“
Benjamin Franklin said, "People who are usually good at making excuses are seldom good for anything else." I think it was George Washington Carver who said, "Ninety-nine percent of all failures are caused by those who make excuses." They spend all their time making excuses so they don't have the energy and the creativity to do something right.
It's interesting to me that the three most influential men of the last 100 years created gigantic excuses for people -- Darwin, Marx, Freud. Darwin said, "Don't feel bad about it. Don't accept personal responsibility.
You're just a victim of your creation. Blame evolution." Marx came along and said, "No, you're just a victim of your circumstances. Economics." Freud came along and said, "You're a victim of your conditioning. Blame your environment." They had all excuses for reasons you couldn't accept responsibility.
The fact is, we are influenced by a lot of factors. But the more you shrink from personal responsibility, the smaller you become. An unhealthy person moves away from accepting responsibility for his own life.
I think the greatest champion in the Olympics so far is a guy named Jeff Blacknik. He won the Greco-Roman wrestling. The amazing thing about Jeff Blacknik is that two years prior to winning gold, this man had Hodgkin's disease. He was dying of cancer, in the hospital, having surgery for Hodgkin's disease. Two years later he won the Gold Medal in wrestling.
Champions refuse to be controlled by circumstances. A winner never makes excuses for his life. He is not manipulated by his creation, his genes or his circumstances, his conditioning. The world's full of examples of people who overcame bad circumstances and made something of themselves because th
The greatest limitation on your ability is your attitude. The Romanian coach who defected a few years ago, who's became the coach for American's women's gymnastics, was asked on TV, "How can you tell a champion?" He said, "I don't look at muscles. I look at their eyes. The eyes tell me what's inside. It's their attitude. I can always develop muscles, but if the attitude is not there, they're not a champion."
A winner will never be an excuser - I just didn't have the right day. Excusers are really just losers.
So, be encouraged this week, my friends. Jesus said that the Spirit in you is far greater than anything in the world. That means that regardless of what life throws your way, you CAN and WILL overcome it. It’s simply a choice you have to make – a choice to believe what Jesus said, and a choice to refuse to allow your circumstances to get the better of you. Be strong!!!
ey refused to be excusers.
I know that life is difficult! And I know that life is sometime grossly unfair. I am aware of the fact that life will many times throw you a curve ball. But one thing I also know: Your life will always be what you make it! The sad reality is that we have become experts at blaming everyone else for our problems in life, and have used it as a cop-out for taking responsibility for making our lives good.
There are the people who have an excuse for everything. They can justify any mistake, any lack of responsibility. They can rationalize any failure. They're always making excuses. They say, "That's just the way I am... I've always been that way." That's the ultimate cop out if you don't want to grow.
Jesus talks about this kind of person in Luke 14. v. 16 "Jesus replied, `A certain man was preparing a great banquet and he had invited many guests. At the time of that banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited to come for everything is now ready. But, they all began to make excuses. The first one said, "I've just bought a field and I must go see it. Please excuse me."' [Isn't that a great excuse? You've been invited to a party and you have a piece of land and say, I've got to go look at it. Couldn't it have waited? Was the land going to do anything?] `Another said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen. I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me." Still another came and said, "I just got married so I can't come."'“
Benjamin Franklin said, "People who are usually good at making excuses are seldom good for anything else." I think it was George Washington Carver who said, "Ninety-nine percent of all failures are caused by those who make excuses." They spend all their time making excuses so they don't have the energy and the creativity to do something right.
It's interesting to me that the three most influential men of the last 100 years created gigantic excuses for people -- Darwin, Marx, Freud. Darwin said, "Don't feel bad about it. Don't accept personal responsibility.
You're just a victim of your creation. Blame evolution." Marx came along and said, "No, you're just a victim of your circumstances. Economics." Freud came along and said, "You're a victim of your conditioning. Blame your environment." They had all excuses for reasons you couldn't accept responsibility.
The fact is, we are influenced by a lot of factors. But the more you shrink from personal responsibility, the smaller you become. An unhealthy person moves away from accepting responsibility for his own life.
I think the greatest champion in the Olympics so far is a guy named Jeff Blacknik. He won the Greco-Roman wrestling. The amazing thing about Jeff Blacknik is that two years prior to winning gold, this man had Hodgkin's disease. He was dying of cancer, in the hospital, having surgery for Hodgkin's disease. Two years later he won the Gold Medal in wrestling.
Champions refuse to be controlled by circumstances. A winner never makes excuses for his life. He is not manipulated by his creation, his genes or his circumstances, his conditioning. The world's full of examples of people who overcame bad circumstances and made something of themselves because th
The greatest limitation on your ability is your attitude. The Romanian coach who defected a few years ago, who's became the coach for American's women's gymnastics, was asked on TV, "How can you tell a champion?" He said, "I don't look at muscles. I look at their eyes. The eyes tell me what's inside. It's their attitude. I can always develop muscles, but if the attitude is not there, they're not a champion."
A winner will never be an excuser - I just didn't have the right day. Excusers are really just losers.
So, be encouraged this week, my friends. Jesus said that the Spirit in you is far greater than anything in the world. That means that regardless of what life throws your way, you CAN and WILL overcome it. It’s simply a choice you have to make – a choice to believe what Jesus said, and a choice to refuse to allow your circumstances to get the better of you. Be strong!!!
ey refused to be excusers.
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