No More Excuses! (author unknown)

I found the roots of this list decades ago somewhere and there is no known original source. Versions of it abound on the Internet as everyone seems to have created something for their own purposes, as I have. Some are tried and true favorites; others I have added. I freely disclose that I was not so clever as to think of it originally, but I have ever found it a useful reminder. May it be so for you.

The next time you feel like God cannot use YOU, remember this:

Noah got drunk.

Abraham was too old. So was Sarah.

Isaac was a daydreamer.

Jacob was a liar and a cheat.

Leah was not considered beautiful.

Joseph was sold into slavery and unjustly incarcerated.

Tamar got pregnant out of wedlock. By her father-in-law.

Moses stuttered.

Gideon was afraid.

Samson had long hair and was a womanizer.

Rahab was a prostitute.

Jeremiah was young.

David was an adulterer and a murderer.

Solomon was a polygamist and idolater.

Elijah was suicidal.

Jonah ran from God.

Ruth was a foreign immigrant.

Naomi was a widow.

Job went bankrupt.

John the Baptist dressed funny.

Peter denied Christ. Three times. Publicly.

Thomas doubted.

Nathaniel scoffed.

All twelve disciples were afraid.

Some disciples fell asleep while praying.

The prodigal son was a selfish jerk.

Martha worried about everything.

Mary Magdalene had seven demons in her.

The unknown man of the Gerasenes had a legion of them inside him.

The Samaritan woman was divorced five times and shacking up with #6.

Zaccheus was too small.

Paul was a religious zealot who persecuted Christians.

Timothy had an ulcer.

Lazarus was DEAD!

Get the picture? They all had limits or a past or both. God used them anyway to tell his story, to move his plan forward. Some of them didn't know God was working through their situation and story. Some of them God did a work in. You are no different. No more excuses!

Matthew 5:14-16 ESV

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Philippians 2:13 ESV

For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Philippians 1:6 ESV

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.