Exodus 4:10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.
1 Corinthians 2:1-4 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
2 Corinthians 11:6 Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.
What is it that keeps us from proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. Coming up with excuses is nothing new. Note Moses when he said “they will not listen to me” and again when he said “I am slow of speech and of tongue”. We can come up with all kinds of excuses not to do what the Lord has asked us to do.
John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide,
John 20:21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
Mark 16:15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”
Luke 14:23 And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.
Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
Psalms 96:3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Knowing ourselves and what we think we are capable of, what we have done in the past, how we have failed and fallen short, how we listen to the doubt satan has put into our head, and not wanting to be rejected, all can lead us down an excuse path. In reality it is just us with fear of not saying it right, not knowing it right, not knowing it good enough, and thinking we are not good enough and that if the good news message we proclaimed is rejected we did it wrong or we will be perceived as foolish and weak.
Replace the thoughts that lead to excuses with promises and commands from scripture. Beyond these you only need 3 seconds of courage to speak the first word of the Good New of Jesus Christ. It is God who works in the hearts of mankind to soften it to hear the need of redemption and forgiveness of sin. It is not how well we speak or know the entire bible. It is not with eloquent words but by the simple truth and mighty work of God that a person comes to either believe or reject salvation – our calling is to proclaim the Good News.
“I am with you”
“I will never leave you”
“I chose you”
“I appointed you”
“You will receive power”
“I am sending you”
“Go and make disciples”
“Declare His glory”
“Compel people to come”