Some people say, "Oh, religion is just a crutch. Christianity is just a crutch. JESUS is just a crutch."
If anyone ever says this to me again, I think I'll ask them this question: "So, what IS a crutch anyway?"
A crutch is a tool that is separate from our bodies. We use it when we are hurting and can't walk by ourselves. We use it for a period of time -- sometimes a month or two, sometimes longer -- and then when we have "graduated" to walking by ourselves, we put the crutch away in a dark, dusty closet corner and forget that it ever existed...unless, of course, the day comes when we need it again. But we would rather leave it in that dark corner if at all possible.
Is Christianity a crutch for you? Is it something that is not usually part of your lifestyle unless there is no other option? Is it something that you pull out of a dark corner, dust off, and use for a short period of time until you can "safely" put it back away out of sight?
Is Jesus a crutch for you? Do you use Him only when it is to your advantage (i.e., on Sunday morning when you are supposed to look like a Christian)? Do you pull Him out only when you're hurting and need some Divine help for a little while until you're back on your own two feet? Are you working towards a day when you will finally "graduate" from needing Him? Is He something you are ashamed of, something that you want to hide because He shows your weaknesses? Is He something that is in your way, that you can't wait to be rid of?
If Jesus Christ is your crutch, my dear friend, then perhaps you do not know Him. Perhaps He is not really "yours." Perhaps (do I dare even say it?) you don't understand the message of salvation.
When you say that you are saved, what are you believing you are saved from? Hell? To most people, that is what salvation means..."If I pray and ask Jesus to come into my heart, then I won't go to hell. I'm saved from pain and death."
It is true that Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, bore the wrath of His Father on the cross and took the punishment of every believer on Himself -- and that one of the results of His sacrifice is that we will not have to spend eternity in hell, separated from God. Yes, what a beautiful, terrifying truth!
But your motivation is misplaced if you come to Jesus asking only for salvation from pain and death, and if you are under no conviction of the terrible sins you've committed against God, the very sins that sent Jesus Christ to the cross!
For you [believers] have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. (1 Peter 2:21-24)Jesus went through the agony of the cross for a bigger purpose than most of us realize: to bring glory to His Father! Jesus Himself said, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work." Accomplishing God's work is what brought Him strength; obedience to His Father's will is the very reason He came to earth to die! Yes, He loves us! But He didn't die just to save us, He died because He loved His Father.
And?
And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, SO THAT we might die to sin and live to righteousness!
Enough with the crutch! Enough with the dark, dusty closet! Enough!
Jesus died to glorify God; we are saved to glorify God!
What a tremendous work He has done! He has redeemed the Believer's life! He has justified them, called them out of darkness, given them a reason to hope and a purpose to live! Jesus Christ is our substitute -- He has ransomed us with His own blood! What a precious gift!
When God offered this gift to me and I accepted it, what did I receive? A crutch?! No! I received new life in Christ -- behold, I am a new creature!
When I finally understood that I needed Christ, did He become a temporary sacrifice for me until I could pull up my bootstraps enough to walk on alone? No, never! Nothing I am now or ever will be in the future has anything to do with what I have done (or will do!), but what Christ has done in and through me! "Walk on alone"?! What pride, what arrogance must blind my heart whenever I dare to think such a thing!
I have been justified! Not only has God "wiped the slate clean" of all my past deeds and thoughts, of all of my works that were as filthy rags, but He has written a new story on it! Christ's story! Justified: "Just as if I'd never sinned and just as if I'd always obeyed." Christ took on my sin and gave me His righteousness, as though I had always lived just as He Himself lived!
He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)In Christ, we are a new creation. In Christ, we have His righteousness, and this is how God sees us. In Christ, we have forgiveness of sins. In Christ, we have a purpose: to glorify the God who chose us before the foundation of the world that we might be holy and blameless before Him.
A crutch, brothers and sisters?
No. A Lover, a King, a High Priest, a Sacrifice, a Creator, a Saviour. A new lifestyle, my friends!
