Christianity IS a Crutch
He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9,10
“Christianity is a crutch.” Have you ever heard that? It’s not complimentary.
Non-Christians say that to mean Christians need faith to get through life, to make sense of the bad in their lives, and to give themselves hope for a better tomorrow. If Christians were stronger, they wouldn’t need to be Christian. They wouldn’t need faith.
Are they wrong? Not at all.
The Bible teaches us that we’re weak. Not only that, but there’s plenty of evidence of our weaknesses just looking at who we are. We’re sinful by nature. Sin causes terrible things to happen in our lives. Our strength is sapped, and we’re left powerless.
The world is ashamed of weakness. Leaders want to project strength. People try to hide their fragility.
But God tells us Christians that when we’re at our weakest, that is when we’re strong. It’s not because we tap into some reserve strength within ourselves. Instead, it’s because when we are at our weakest, our lowest, our feeblest, that’s when we have to rely on the Almighty, All-Gracious God the most.
It’s when I’m at my weakest that I have to rely fully on Christ’s power, just as I should when I feel strong. It is Christ’s power that saves me from my sin. It is Christ’s power that protects me and gives me true strength to endure.
Mockingly calling Christianity a crutch is like telling a person with a broken leg to stop using crutches. “Why don’t you just walk?” Like telling a person who wears glasses they don’t need them. “Why don’t you just see?”
But we recognize faith in Jesus for the crutch that it is. Jesus is the only reason we can make it through life. He is the only one who can truly comfort us when bad things happen to us. He is the only one who gives us hope for a better tomorrow and a blessed eternity.