Crutches

There is a time and place for crutches in our lives.  When we have been injured  and we need support to begin on the path to recovery there is no shame in using crutches.   Crutches may fit the moment but In most cases they are to be temporary not permanent.

Some people get so used to some kind of daily support that it takes a good friend who comes along and takes away the crutches.  With a word or a action the friend sends a clear message that it is time to walk without the crutches. Good friends don’t let crutches become permanent when they do not need to be.

Jesus called us His friends.  As our friend Jesus will come to us and take away our crutches when the time is right.  He can see that we have become too dependent on the support and sympathy we receive from an injury we have experienced.  Sometimes we have stopped moving toward full recovery because we like the attention we get from our pain.

Professional beggars are seen sitting on the same street corners day after day asking for support.  At the end of the day some of them quietly stand up and make their way to their car which is parked a few blocks away.  They have made their weakness permanent so they can always keep the support of others.  How sad for them!  They truly need an honest friend to come and take away their crutches.

As hard as it may be to perceive, we all have a tendency to elicit sympathy and support from our past injuries and the injustices we have suffered.  We often spend our time on our own street corners wanting people to notice our pain and pay attention to us.

Our good friend Jesus will not let us do this forever.   Sooner or later He will come and take away our crutches.  He loves us too much to leave us on our crutches when He knows we can walk with Him.

Real friends know when crutches need to go or stay.   Ask Jesus if it is time for you to walk with Him without the attention or sympathy of others.

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.  John15:15-17

Bud McCord

Abide International