June 29, 2026
Monday, June 29
Dan Ariely is a psychology professor at Duke University. He writes, "Over the course of many years of teaching, I have noticed that there typically seems to be a rash of deaths among students' relatives at the end of the semester. It happens mostly in the week before final exams and before papers are due." Guess which relative most often dies? Grandma. Another research study has shown that grandmothers are ten times more likely to die before a midterm and nineteen times more likely to die before a final exam. Worse, grandmothers of students who are not doing well in class are at even higher risk. Students who are failing are fifty times more likely to lose Grandma than non-failing students. It turns out that the greatest predictor of mortality among senior citizens is their grandchildren's GPAs. The moral is, if you are a grandmother, do not let your grandchild go to college. It'll kill you, especially if they aren’t smart.
Obviously, I am joking about that last part. But think about how often we make terrible excuses for things we know we should do. Some of us know that God is calling us to serve in some ministry. Some of us need to ask someone’s forgiveness or extend forgiveness of our own. Some know they should begin tithing of their income to God’s work; others know they should get involved in a Life Group for Bible study and fellowship. All of us need to be investing in relationships with people who don’t know Jesus.
We all have our reasons why we haven’t done the clear will of God. Here is one thing I know: Between the world, our own flesh, and the Devil, there will always be excuses not to obey Him. If you are waiting until it becomes easy and convenient to serve the Lord with all your heart, you will never do it.
Moses is one man who can testify to that. As we saw last week, he was rescued as an infant from certain death, raised in royalty and luxury, then as a young man, became a fugitive from the law after committing a murder. At the outset of Exodus 3, he’s an 80-year-old shepherd in the Midianite desert, when suddenly God appears to Him in a burning bush and tells him that he has been chosen to lead a most unlikely rescue mission. God calls him to go back to Egypt—the place he fled from forty years before—and stand face-to-face with Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the world, demanding that he let God’s people go.
This week, we’ll look at the five objections Moses made to this calling. As we do this, we’ll see how God thinks about our excuses. God responds to Moses’ five objections in five different ways, but those responses all have something in common. Perhaps you’ll spot it.
“Lord, please enable me to overcome all the excuses and rationalizations I have for not fully obeying you. This week, show me how ridiculous they all are in light of your glory and power. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Senior Pastor
First Baptist Conroe
More from Pastor Jeff at his website: jeffbergerwriting.com
