Daily Devotional

On November 17,1971 (exactly 51 years ago to the day) I prayed to receive Christ as my Lord and Savior. My prayer was simple and heart-felt: “Lord Jesus…come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior.” Sadly, my prayer also had some conditions that reflected my ignorance of His sovereignty: “I will do anything for You, Lord…except go into ministry.” My reasons were simple: I felt totally unworthy, unqualified and ill-equipped.  

In those days, when people suggested that God may be calling me to full-time vocational ministry, I often teased, “I don’t want to be paid to be good; I want to remain, ‘good for nothing.’” Oh, how my life was filled with excuses. However, it didn’t take long to learn from the Bible that I was in good company with some pretty famous excuse-makers, who had their own exception clauses. Let me paraphrase a few:
 
• Moses: “I will do anything for You, Lord, except I don’t speak very well.” (Exodus, Chapter 4)
 
• Gideon: “I would do what you ask, Lord, except I am not qualified.” (Judges, Chapter 6)
 
• Jeremiah: “I would preach to your rebellious people, Lord, except I am too young.” (Jeremiah, Chapter 2)
 
• Jonah: “I would offer your forgiveness to these unbelievers, Lord, except…(then he just ran!)  (Read the entire Book of Jonah)  

Having served in vocational ministry for almost five decades, I am thanking God His sovereign will that overruled many of my foolish excuses and exception clauses. I am especially grateful for the timeless words of the apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  
 
So, what are your “exception clauses”?:  

“I will do anything for You, Lord, EXCEPT......... !”  

Thank you, Lord, for using us in spite of ourselves!