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GOD
IS NOT
A CRUTCH! Many people throughout the world
have the idea that Christians are weak; that we hide behind
‘religion’ because we have need of something to prop us up. But, if we are born-again believers, filled with the Holy
Spirit of God and nurturing His dynamic presence in our lives, nothing
could be further from the truth. God
is not a crutch – He’s the Almighty, Powerful Creator Who
created us with a spirit so we can have direct access to Him for the
betterment of our life. We
were created by Him to have fellowship with Him.
God has our wellbeing at heart and knows best how to bring out
the best in us. Those who believe otherwise not only miss out God’s
blessings in this life, but they also lose the opportunity to gain
heaven in the next. Jesus said, “I
am the Vine, you are the branches.
He that abides in Me, and I in him, shall bring forth much fruit;
for without Me you can do nothing” (John
15:5). It’s obvious from this Scripture
that Jesus is a straight shooter! He’s
very clearly telling us that branches (people) are dependent upon the
Vine (Him) and that without this vital connection our lives are
producing nothing! To the
people outside of the kingdom of God, godless fruit might be very
acceptable, but to the Lord it counts for nothing. Do we want to produce much
fruit? Jesus said if we
abide in Him, fruit would be an automatic result of that
partnership. On the other
hand, Mark 4:18-19 intimates that if our branches are growing among
thorns, the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things that
enter in choke the Word of God, just like a weed chokes the good plant,
and it becomes unfruitful. So the key is to abide in Jesus the Vine at all times.
It’s not enough to have life and leaf in the kingdom of God yet
have no fruit on our branches because that puts us in the ‘hearer
only’ category when the Bible exhorts us to be ‘hearers and do-ers
of the Word.’ Jesus dealt
a death blow to the fig tree that had life and leaf yet yielded no fruit
(Matthew
21:18-20).
Everything that has to do with God
is positive, but the thought that He would be a crutch to us is
so negative that it’s derogatory in every sense of the word.
No, God is certainly not a crutch.
Someone Who knows us better than we know ourselves, yes!
A pruner, yes! A
caring Saviour, yes! Someone Who longs and desires to improve the
quality of our lives, yes! No wonder so many people around
the world love Him! Do you? ~
Joan Emery
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