Possibly you’ve heard someone say that Christians use God as a “crutch” for their insecurity. How should we respond to such a derogatory accusation? After all, it makes us sound weak, right?
As we know, the Bible is full of paradoxes. God’s truth is often the opposite of what “seems” right to us. For instance, it seems to us that if we want to experience a great life we should cling to our life…for dear life. But Jesus told us that we will experience abundant life when we “die to ourselves” and take up our cross of self-sacrifice, and follow Him.
And there is also a paradoxical truth about “strength.”
I’ve noticed that the more Christians mature in their faith, the more “dependent” they become on God. Again, it seems as though the more a person matures, the more “self” confidence he or she would have. But that’s not the way it works. The more we grow in knowledge and wisdom…and humility, the more we recognize the greatness of God. And the more we recognize how utterly lost we are apart from Him. Jesus proclaimed, rather matter of factly, that apart from Him, we can do nothing. That comment offends some people, because it makes us seem needy and weak… “dependent” on Him.
And then we remember that He holds our breath in His hand. We remember that He is the one who knit us together in our mother’s womb, and He is the one who has ordered the days of our lives. And we remember that we have an appointment with Him when we die. At this meeting, every knee will bow, whether or not the knee bowed here on earth.
Believing that we can do life on our own…apart from God…is like whistling in the dark. We have engaged in myriad distractions—activities that numb us to the reality of our need for God. But when we lay down our fears and our arrogance, and surrender ourselves to the love of God (sounds funny doesn’t it… “surrendering” ourselves to God’s love!), something within us wonders why it took us so long. After all, that’s when we come home to our Father, and that’s when we begin to find peace, and we begin to experience meaning and purpose in life.
And we find rest. Something Pete Nelson said several years ago in a message he gave at Calvary in Albuquerque has always stuck in my mind… “God is not our crutch. He is our stretcher.”
So when someone accuses you of using God as a crutch, you can honestly tell them that’s not true. God is our Stretcher, having rescued us from the penalty of sin and the sting of death. He is the Source of our Life, and it is in Him we find rest for our soul.
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” ~2 Corinthians 13.14
Rod & Rose 