I wish to encourage you to think of Jesus Christ as your spiritual crutch.
Many Christians have come under the criticism that ‘Christianity is just an emotional crutch for those who can’t handle life’. Well, the good news is, they’re right. Praise God that we have a friend in Jesus who can be leaned on! The intended criticism is actually a wonderful compliment.
You see, a crutch by nature supports someone who cannot support themselves. Anyone suffering a broken leg appreciates the value of a crutch. They can deny their need of a crutch all they want, but the actual need is indisputable. The crutch is vital – not optional, regardless of whether it’s acknowledged or not. So it is with a disbelieving heart which God says is enslaved by sin (Romans 6:16-22).
Instead of resisting God, instead of wishing Him out of existence, and instead of living independent of Him, the Christian leans upon God in dependant trust. Vulnerable surrender is the nature of the true Christian, yielding their entire lives under His authority for every physical, emotional, and spiritual need. First, the greatest of all man’s needs are discovered and fully met at the Cross of Calvary. The cross is where Jesus Christ did what we could not do, making peace with God on our behalf and in our place (Romans 5:1).
Trust self or trust God
The world promotes self-reliance, dependence upon all things tangible, and trust in mankind’s imagined ability to make all things right. Unbelievers “trust in chariots and some in horses (or technology), but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” (Psalms 20:7). We turn to the Lord Jesus Christ as our spiritual stay, our immortal, resurrected Saviour, who alone “is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
Jeremiah explains in 17:7; “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord whose trust is the Lord” (cf. Psalms 40:4). Contrary to the disbelieving inclinations of the natural heart, people of faith look to God to become their actual trust mechanism, which in turn enables them to trust Him. From the very first soft thought we have towards the Lord, we are dependent upon Him for the grace gift of trusting faith (Ephesians 2:8). Without Christ, we were all like “an evil man (who) is ensnared in his transgression” (Proverbs 29:6). But as repentant sinners; “We know that our old self was crucified with him (Christ) in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” (Romans 6:6).
Lean on self, or lean on Christ
The adage, ‘God helps those who help themselves’ is certainly NOT true when it comes to salvation. The truth is; God helps those who abandon self-effort and run to Christ, believing that which is “of first importance… that Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3). Because we believe this, leaning our full weight of dependence upon Christ for forgiveness and cleansing, we now accept by faith that our ”life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).
The point is this, we can lean fully on Christ for the forgiveness of all sin, and for the gift of eternal life (John 3:16-18). We can also lean on Him for maintaining our security of our eternal life. Not only so, but we can lean on Him to provide our every need while on this earth. Then, ultimately, we lean on Him to transport us into His Glorious presence for eternity.