Lack of goats made me do it

A while ago I came across the story of a Swiss man caught speeding on a Canadian highway. His excuse was a classic. He blamed his actions on the lack of goats on the roads. The man was caught driving at 161 km/h in a 100 km/h zone.

The traffic officer recorded that the Swiss driver said he was taking advantage "of the ability to go faster without risking hitting a goat".

Canadian police spokesman Joel Doiron said he had never found a goat on the highways of eastern Ontario in his 20 years of service. "I've never been to Switzerland, but I guess there must be a lot of goats there," he said.

The excuse didn't wash with the judge—he still fined him $360.

We laugh his ridiculous excuse, yet we often produce similar to excuse our disobedience of God’s laws.

Often we blame others for our actions, and we can even blame the absence of others for our sin—"If you had been here...".

Every day on the news we hear the same goat trick—the circumstances made him do it—if they had more jobs there would be peace and harmony in the community, if he had a different upbringing… etc.

It is something that comes quite naturally to all of us, Adam did it way back in Eden. Yet just as with the Canadian judge, God will not accept any excuses, for as far as he is concerned the buck stops with us.

And the answer is found, not in this age-old strategy of buck passing, or absent-goat blaming, but in coming clean with God—“I did it. I broke your law, and deserve your judgment.” Having come clean with God we are then to go to Him for what we don't deserve—pardon. That is what God graciously gives to all who trust His Son—for He has paid the price, freely taken the punishment for law breakers like you and me.

So no more goating about. If you haven't done so, go to Jesus and plead for mercy, and it will be freely given. If you have gone to Christ, stop blaming goats, real or imaginary. Take ownership of your sin, and with the Spirit' s help, put it to death!