Why have you never sought the Lord? Why do you disdain high and holy things? Why do you never, as a normal habit, worship? Why have you never considered the claims of God? The answers are probably as preposterous as these excuses.
There isn't a single worthy excuse that any one of us can utter for avoiding, putting off the claims of a gracious God. You may claim you are far too busy to think of the things of the Spirit of God, to think of the gospel, to worship, to seek the Lord. Obviously there isn't anybody who is too busy for two reasons. First, there is nothing more important than the affairs of the soul. Would you be too busy decorating your house or to get lunch, or to feed the children? Of course not. You can't possibly be too busy for this because, in the scale of priorities, it is the biggest thing you could possibly have in life: your soul, the things of God. Besides, how much time do we waste on fruitless things!
The excuses that we make to God for ignoring him are absolutely insulting. What you are rejecting is an overture from Almighty God to give you light, and bless your soul, and fill your life with gladness and holiness, and be your guide and your friend. You are rejecting that in favour of this sin-sick world. It is Almighty God we are dealing with, not a person, not a friend, and if you disdain God with your excuse, it is insulting.
Consider the people who say, ‘I cannot believe.’ That is a great excuse. ‘I would attend a place of worship, I would do as you say, I would seek the Lord, I would investigate these things, but I have a problem: I cannot believe.’ No, that is not true. You don't know yourself as well as we do, I'm sorry to say. What you really mean to say is, ‘I will not believe.’ That is what it amounts to. ‘Oh, how can you presume to say that? I said, I cannot believe. Who are you to say, I will not believe?’ You will not believe, because you won't even make any enquiry; you won't even produce the great wonderful doubts that your marvellous intellect stumbles at. You won't seek any solutions or any answers. You are not really serious in this and you are making it pretty evident to us, that the truth is, you will not believe. Because if it was a matter of ‘cannot’, you would at least be concerned. You would at least be making enquiry; you would at least be asking questions; you would at least be anxious to find out whether these things were true or not. But if there is no evidence of that, then your excuse is spurious. It is a matter of ‘I will not believe’, and one of these days you will have to face God for that.
A lot of the excuses we make are just cowardly too. We are too cowardly to step out of the mainstream, to be seen to be those who have been affected by spiritual things, who have been touched by God, who have come to love him and know him; we are too frightened about what may people think of us. The Lord has to expose these things. This is what we must do: we must sift ourselves; we must see ourselves and our excuses as they really are in the presence of God. All excuses are futile anyway, because it is God you are dealing with, and he reads the heart and he knows that the reality is that you are just rejecting him; he is not fooled. Any excuse that is made to God, and he reads the heart better than you do yourself, and he knows exactly what you are saying.