Candy Canes and Candy Crutches
Wendy Speake
Today’s Truth
Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life. (Psalm 54:4)
Friend to Friend
I
was in high school the first time I heard an atheist argue that
Christians are just weak people in need of a crutch. “Jesus,” he
accused, “is the crutch you lean on to get you through this life.” I was
only sixteen years old, but I remember thinking, Of course He’s a
crutch. Praise God for sending His Son for us to lean on, with the
fullness of our fallen weight, or we’d be hobbling through this crazy
life alone.
I couldn’t understand why this combative boy in my
geometry class was challenging my faith with that ridiculous crutch
analogy. The image of Jesus holding me up, making me able-bodied and
sure-footed, only strengthened my believing heart. “You’re right,” I
conceded, “you’re absolutely right. Christians need Jesus every day.
However, I think we’re all leaning on something. But I’ve come to
believe that whatever we lean on in this life better have the ability to
get us ready for the next life too.”
“Heaven?” he asked with a sneer.
“Leaning
on Jesus in this life is the only thing that will allow us to walk into
His eternal kingdom when this life is over. But put heaven aside if you
want. We all need something to lean on. Perhaps you’re leaning on your
abilities just as heavily as I’m leaning on my Savior’s ability to hold
me up.”
God is absolutely a crutch! He’s the only crutch that
enables us to not only walk through the valleys on this earth but also
to run full speed ahead into the high places of eternity. Praise the
Lord for His sustaining, upholding, and eternal support.
The
trouble is, sometimes I forget that faithful crutch and grab other
things to get me through at three o’clock in the afternoon when the
stresses of life add up. It’s often in the midst of real-life stress
that I forget to lean on the real-Life Giver.
For instance, when
my school-age kids are melting down over math homework and my husband
has just called to say that he’ll be late, I sometimes grab a handful of
chocolate chips. When I’ve been cleaning the house all day but still
have three loads of laundry to fold and put away, I have been known to
throw some highly sugared creamer into my afternoon cup of coffee or
tea. When I’ve had a challenging morning at work, I often grab a
leftover brownie from the night before to push me over the hump. Instead
of leaning on Christ, I lean on something fleeting to boost my
adrenaline and give me a surge of dopamine so that I will feel better.
Even
as I write this, what comes to mind is the image of a candy cane, which
is made to look like an actual cane or, better yet, a crutch. The
problem with leaning too heavily on a candy crutch is, almost
immediately, it breaks, and I break too, because God never intended for
sugar to sustain me. Instead, God says, “Cast your burden upon the Lord
and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken”
(Psalm 55:22 NASB).
Big burdens, daily burdens, seemingly
insignificant burdens. God can handle them all when you place them in
the palm of His hands. Other translations of Psalm 55:22 similarly
exhort,“Cast your cares upon the Lord . . .” I like that image too. You
can cast your cares on Him because He cares for you.
In contrast,
sugar doesn’t give a rip about your joy or your health, your stress or
your family, your ability to bear the fruit of God’s Spirit in your life
or your emotional well-being.
Nowadays, when I think of the
crutch analogy, I imagine a cane—not a candy cane but a shepherd’s
staff. Jesus was the ultimate Good Shepherd and I am the epitome of a
foolish, wayward sheep. But I know my Shepherd’s voice, and I can hear
Him calling me back into His presence again. Jesus is the true and
faithful lover and sustainer of my soul. He leaves the ninety-nine to
grab me each time I wander off Jesus picks me up and carries me back
with the full weight of my burdens resting on his shoulders.
Friends,
all other crutches will break under the weight of your burdens. Only
Jesus can pick you up and carry you, because He alone has the authority
and power and position to carry you into an eternal life with Him. So,
praise God for sending His Son so that you don’t need to hobble through
another day alone. Because of Jesus, you can run, full speed ahead, into
this abundant and eternal life! Lean your full weight on that.
Let’s Pray
Dear
Jesus, I’m leaning on You today. You can carry my burdens because You
care for me. You are able to sustain my life because You gave Yours. No
one else and nothing else was created to carry my weight. Thank you,
Jesus. I lean on You today.
It is in Your strong and sustaining Name I pray,
Amen.