March 4, 2006

Lenten Devotion
Thus the Israelites were subdued at that time, and the people of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord, the God of their ancestors. - 2 Chronicles 13:18

Recently, I encountered an article that spoke of Christianity as nothing more than a crutch. It went on to say that “the only reason people claim to trust Jesus is that they are wimpy weaklings….” I thought about that statement a long time, and as I did so, my thoughts wandered off into my front hall closet where the crutches that I had been dependent on for many months now rested from their labor.

I had been thinking about giving them to the rummage sale or throwing them away be-cause of the discomfort they brought to mind—not only my sore and swollen ankle, but the general discomfort that came from relying on them. When I slouched instead of standing up straight when using them, it caused pain in my neck and back. If I rested my crutches in my arm pits, as many people do, they chafed and bruised the tender flesh there. I remembered how difficult it was to carry items from place to place when I was on crutches. Bags held in my hands would slap against the side of the crutch—throwing me off balance; and although my backpack equally distributed the things I was carrying, when full it placed quite a bit more weight on my good ankle. Using crutches left me with little energy to do other things and they were a constant reminder that I was dependent on them (and on others) to do what I had always been able to do by myself.

Then I remembered that I would not have had as much freedom of movement without them. Even though the wheel chair left my lap free to carry necessary items, it was cumbersome and required the same amount of energy to operate. It didn’t fit into small places and I needed help loading it in and out of the van in order to go anywhere outside of the church or my home. I was resigned to admit that even though I had not enjoyed relying on my crutches, I had needed them. They brought about healing. They freed me from bondage to my injury. They taught me how to be a gracious receiver.

Once again, my thoughts returned to the statement I had read. I realized that we do trust in Jesus because we know that we are “wimpy weaklings.” We can not do it all on our own and we need help in and with our lives. Understanding that there is more to life than we know about, we become aware that we are not the center of the universe.
We rely on God, because we know that God is “the be all and end all.”
We believe in Christ because through Christ comes healing. Christ frees us from the bondage of our self-centered ways, a.k.a. sin and death. Christ gives us freedom to live life abundantly—free of guilt, free of fear, free of disease regardless of the form that it takes. Christ challenges us to stand on our faith and walk with him—passionately, filled with joy, hope, and love.
And when we stumble or are thrown off balance by the challenges of this world, the Holy Spirit intercedes—teaching us how to be gracious receivers when blessings come our way.

I think I will keep those crutches for a while longer. Now that I have thought it through, they no longer remind me of my discomfort. Once I took my focus off of myself and began to think about God, I began to see those crutches in a new light. Today, they remind me that God is always there to catch me when I fall, to hold me up when I am weak, to heal me when I am broken, and to help me get back on my feet, so that I can continue to walk in faith.

Rev. Pam Beedle-Gee