Devotional Thoughts and Encouragement for Men
Title: Is Jesus Your Crutch?
by Bradley Dorrance
Is Jesus Your Crutch?
I was privileged to serve the Lord as a youth worker in an inner-city community
in the north-eastern United States for two years. During that time, I met
many people who had extraordinary testimonies of the Lord’s goodness in
the midst of poverty, crime and hopelessness.
One man, David, stands out in my mind as someone who had grasped something
of the essence of what it means to live as a Christian man. David’s nephew
Julio was a pupil in my after school tutoring group; we met during a visit
to Julio’s home. During our brief conversation, David identified himself
as a recovering drug addict, and shared with me how the Lord was setting
him free from bondage to Crack Cocaine.
I was so impressed by David’s testimony, I invited him to speak at our
Tuesday night youth group at a neighbourhood church. (Some of the assembled
group of teen boys, aged 13-16 had at one time been involved in the illicit
drug trade, so I felt David’s testimony would be relevant.)
There are very few specific moments and phrases I remember from my two years
working and living in that urban community, but David’s words to these young
men made an indelible impression on my spirit:
“Do you see this wedding ring?” David asked, gesturing to the third finger
on his left hand. The boys nodded and David continued. “This is my fourth
one; I sold the other three to buy Crack.”
“When I tell people about my experience and that I’ve become a Christian,
they sometimes say, ‘all this Jesus stuff is just a crutch for weak people.’
Do you know what I say?”
The room was silent.
If Jesus is a crutch,
give me two!”
Praise God that David had been brought to a place of brokenness where he
recognized his need for the saving grace of Jesus. As Christian men, many
of us were raised to believe ‘God helps those who help themselves’ and that
displays of weakness are out of place in the life of a man pursuing holiness.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Psalm 51:15-17 (NIV)
‘O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.’
All that we can offer our God is brokenness, despair and sin. It is His
transforming love and the sacrifice of Jesus at Calvary that redeems us
and prepares us to walk each day by faith.
On days when we wish the Lord
Jesus were a wheelchair, not just a crutch, let us praise His holy name
for the grace in which we live, and that we have a God who sought us in
our brokenness, embraced us, lifted us up and taught us how to walk with
Him.
Blessings,
Bradley Dorrance
London, ON
CANADA
VIEW PAST ARTICLES
|
