Last night I was sifting through boxes of stuff in my office and I came across several notebooks in which I’d maintained somewhat of a diary.
I’ll be honest with you, it’s been a pretty difficult time around here, lately. Not only has my faith been tested on an hourly basis, but my own brokenness has been made clear over and over again. When I took a few minutes to flip through the pages of those old notebooks, all from over a decade ago, the truth that my broken condition is chronic became obvious.
But there was one page I found where I had written some encouraging words. However, they weren’t words of affirmation meant to build up my ego or make me feel better about myself; they were attestations to the fact that Jesus is more, so much more, than a crutch to me.
Below is a copy of the text…
You say you don’t need Jesus because you don’t need a crutch. If you don’t think you need him, then maybe you’re crippled to high for crutches.
Jesus is more than a crutch!
Throw away Jesus and take the Devil, but I choose Jesus.
Just think about it:
The Devil tries to burden me down
-Jesus says, “Cast your cares on me.”“Forgiven” by Thomas Blackshear
The Devil wants me to sin.
-Jesus bore my sin.Satan will try to weaken me.
-Jesus is my strength.When Satan fires his arrows at me,
-Jesus is my Shield.In the midst of the storm
-Jesus hides me in his hand.Satan would see me defeated.
-Jesus fights my battles.Satan would have me fall into despair.
-Jesus lifts me from the pit.Satan would harm me.
-Jesus will heal me.When darkness is all around and Satan would blind me,
-Jesus is my Light.When Satan says, “There is no way,”
-Jesus says, “I AM THE WAY”When Satan says I’m guilty,
-Jesus paid my debt.When the Devil would lead me astray,
-Jesus is my Shepherd.When the Devil would watch me fall,
-Jesus carries me.
“Precious Lord, take my hand. Lead me on, help me stand. I am tired, I am weak, I am worn.
Through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the light:
Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.” – Thomas A. Dorsey
He leads; He goes before; He walks beside; He holds me; He carries me; He helps me to stand; He gives me a race to run: He’s so much more than a “crutch” to me.
The Recovering Legalist 
Well, today I am off to fix a kitchen. A customer of mine got a deal on cupboards and got a guy to install them. His name was simple Dave. And now we know why. He botched the job only leaving 30 inches for a 30 inch stove and the same for the fridge and put things in crooked. What a mess.
Its with that sort of Now I got to fix this attitude that I seem to write. It bugs me because I end up sounding condescending when that is not my intent.
So to the point.
While God came to heal our broken hearts and bind up our wounds, we all have a story. And really the gospel is more than that. Compared to God we are not even a grain of sand on scale, both in size and brain power. As the bible says, what is man that you are mindful of him. (But He is.)
The real purpose of being born again is not about the remediation of our soul, but a restoration so that we can honour Him. The Garden filled with contempt left us outcasts. And while we might say, poor us, we are out casts, really we should simply suck it up and return, repent etc. But repentance does not save, only forgiveness by the blood of Christ so no matter what we think we accomplish with contrite surrender unless there is the cross, we are still without God.
While we might think God our parametric really he is more like a field medic in a war where we have a job to do and that is to worship and honour him. its not about our wounds he binds but about the God that we serve. Its not about us. And while we have our issues, We simply need to accept He cares, let go of our perceptions of self caused by our childhood as Jesus pours in the oil and the wine spiritually and move forward to the front line of worship and praise to our infinite God.
I appreciate your comments, but I do wonder how you write so much in a short time! How much coffee do you drink? Are you a speed typer? Just wondering :-).
Hi Anthony. LoL. I was helping a customer with a camera and he said, Wow you type fast. LoL.
I did two bathrooms for him. And He was shocked that I have these great big hands and can type rocket fast.
And for your information I also play piano, Build homes, invent things, Sing, preach and can tap dance. LoL.
I don’t know who you are but I hear what you’re saying and I thought it was a beautiful response to Anthony’s post. Of course we’re all broken and we all have our own story. Like you said, it isn’t really about us at all, other than we are the recipients of God’s gracious love, made possible by the Son’s obedience and His shed blood. The Garden filled with our dependency is restoration and a testimony to His glory. Thank you.
thank you Bruce. My name is Scott. I live in Canada. I am a Born again Christian. my favourite verse these days is John 3:14. And the word Perish. People totally over look the story of the snakes, skip over the contempt and then rush through vs. 16. They perished because of their contempt, and we perish because of ours and only through looking at Christ can we through Obedience receive the free gift of healing. We obviously cant earn the gift, but we have to leave the contempt and trust Christ or perish.
Now you know all you need to know about me. 🙂
Hi Scott, I live in Canada too, Halifax, NS. Just read your “My Beliefs” and followed your blog. That’s one of the most thorough “My Beliefs” articles I’ve ever read. If everyone did that we’d all save a lot of time! I’m doing a musing on the Gospel of John and mentioned the serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness just recently. I see that we’re both fans of Evolution also! One of the pages on my blog is devoted to Evolution and Creationism, take a gander when you get a chance. Looking forward to getting to knowing you better. God’s grace, peace and blessings on you and yours.
Hi Bruce. Thanks for the encouragement. I am glad you enjoyed the site. I am not the best writer, but I have to make due. I look forward to getting to know you as well. Lots of good people out east. I think to some degree there are better people in the east than in Ontario. One of the Salvation armies here has a lot of people from Newfoundland. And they have Newfie Dinners and what a nice bunch of people. One time I was there they had a ceremony where a lady had to kiss the Cod to become a honorary Newfoundlander. We had a riot. She drank the screech which was vegetable water from when they boiled the vegetables for dinner, we had some laughs.
And you know they say those form NS, are just Newfoundlanders who got lost when out in their boat.
I really think Ontario misses out. I think it would be better if Quebec separated from Canada so it would be a shorter drive to the east coast.
I love the Christian blogging community. Glad you guys met 🙂
Hi Scott, interestingly enough it was Ottawa, Ontario, where I became a Christian and some of my fondest memories are some of the young people’s camps I attended in Ontario. Haliburton was one as I recollect. Awful beautiful country and some awful nice Christian people. Make sure you follow my blog so we can exchange ideas and thoughts! Blessings Scott.
I was over on your blog. I will go back and follow…
And Yes, Halliburton is Gods country.
Excellent Scott and you’re right, really beautiful.
Amen, Anthony! Very sweet. I’m good with Jesus as a crutch, most days I just don’t have enough, I’m lame. “Totally lame “as teen agers say, but look, lame woman walking here! He is more than a crutch, way more, but I’m totally shameless about my need for a crutch.😁
And thank you for the “intro” to Scott, Anthony, sincerely appreciated! Blessings.
Wow! I love this ❤️.
This is a very great post. I’m happy to be on your blog❤️
I love motivational and inspiring blogs and that’s what mine is based on.
I’m following this blog and making sure I don’t miss any post. 😊.
You can check out mine also, in case you’d like it😃💐