Day 1: Your Crutch
WHAT IF
YOU COULD WALK DIFFERENTLY?
You have a broken leg.
You now have two CRUTCHES.
You have to depend on them both or you can't walk.
Because if you try to walk with one,you will have a limp.
You need the pair.
CRUTCHES.
They come in all shapes & sizes.
And somehow,they don't seem to make walking any easier.
With every step,
you are
STRIVING & STRIVING
just to move forward.
Eventually,you may get to your destination,
but you arrive
SWEATY,TIRED,&EXHAUSTED.
Yet you keep using the same
CRUTCHES
because they are the onesyou have always used.
They are FAMILIAR.
They feel like they FIT.
CRUTCH~
"A person or thing on which something else is based or depends".
Oh, the CRUTCHES OF LIFE that come in all shapes & sizes~
FOOD.
ALCOHOL.
SHOPPING.
DRUGS.
MONEY.
SUCCESS.
PEOPLE.
CONTROL.
And then there are the ones you can't see~
BITTERNESS.ANGER.SHAME.FEAR.RESENTMENT.PERFECTIONISM.SELF-PROTECTION.
Oh,
the CRUTCHES OF LIFE
that we depend upon to help us walk,
yet somehow become
STUMBLING BLOCKS
that keep us standing in the same place,
even though we think we are moving.
But...
WHAT IF?
WHAT IF there is ANOTHER WAY?
What if you don't have to STRIVE your way through life?
What if you don't have to keep holding yourself up?
What if the life of
IMMEASURABLY MORE
isn't somewhere out there waiting for your circumstances to finally become
IMMEASURABLY BETTER?
What if you could experience
THE IMMEASURABLY MORE OF JESUS RIGHT NOW,
even when what you
SEE
doesn't look like more,
and what you
FEEL
certainly doesn't feel like more?
Hmm.
Then you are handed something completely different.
FORGIVENESS
&
LOVE.
You reach for them.
And something feels different.
You aren't striving quite so hard.
You aren't carrying quite so much.
There is a PEACE you can't explain.
And that almost makes you nervous.
Because it feels TOO EASY.
There has to be a catch.
So you drop
FORGIVENESS & LOVE
and reach back down for your old
CRUTCHES.
Why?
Because they're FAMILIAR.
And FAMILIAR can feel safer than FAITH.
So...
You pick up CONTROL.
You grab FEAR.
You hold onto RESENTMENT.
You reach for whatever has always helped you feel SAFE.
And once again,
you STRIVE.
And
STRIVE.
And
STRIVE.
Until the sweat begins falling from your brow.
And there,
lying beside you
are still
FORGIVENESS
&
LOVE.
And then you remember,
when you were walking in
FORGIVENESS and LOVE
you weren't carrying everything.
It almost felt as though
SOMEONE WAS CARRYING YOU.
There was a PEACE that was so UNFAMILIAR,
yet somehow SO RIGHT.
And suddenly you now question
WHAT IF?
WHAT IF CONTROL isn't keeping me safe?
WHAT IF the things you have been depending upon
are actually the things wearing you out?
WHAT IF SURRENDERING
doesn't mean LOSING CONTROL,
but finally admitting that you were never
IN CONTROL in the first place?
And...
WHAT IF
the IMMEASURABLY MORE
that you may be keep waiting for isn't necessarily
MORE MONEY,
MORE SUCCESS,
MORE ANSWERS,
MORE PEOPLE,
MORE HEALING,
MORE CERTAINTY,
MORE OF WHAT I WANT?
WHAT IF
IMMEASURABLY MORE IS MORE OF JESUS?
Paul prayed~
“Now to HIM who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to HIS power that is at work within us...” (Ephesians 3:20)
Don't miss those words:
AT WORK WITHIN US.
Maybe the
IMMEASURABLY MORE
is already beginning
WITHIN YOU
before you ever see it happening
AROUND YOU.
Your circumstances may not have changed.
The person may not have changed.
The diagnosis may not have changed.
The relationship may not have changed.
The answer you are waiting for may still not have come.
And yet,
JESUS IS HERE.
And because
JESUS IS HERE,
you can experience
MORE PEACE in the middle of uncertainty.
MORE LOVE in the middle of hurt.
MORE FORGIVENESS in the middle of offense.
MORE GRACE in the middle of weakness.
MORE JESUS in the middle of LESS.
Oh...
WHAT IF?
What if you finally put down the things you have been using to hold yourself up
and discover you were never meant to hold yourself up?
Because JESUS isn't merely ANOTHER CRUTCH
to add to all the others.
HE isn't something we reach foruntil we can walk by ourselves again.
JESUS IS OUR LIFE.
HE said~
“Apart from ME you can do nothing" (John 15:5.)
Dependence upon JESUS isn't weakness at all.
It's's exactly how we were created to WALK.
Not independently of HIM.
But WITH HIM.
IN HIM.
THROUGH HIM.
WHAT IF today is the day
to put down CONTROL.
Put down BITTERNESS.
Put down FEAR.
Put down SHAME.
Put down the ____________
you have been leaning upon.
And receive
HIS FORGIVENESS.
HIS LOVE.
HIS GRACE.
HIS STRENGTH.
HIS PEACE.
HIM.
Because perhaps the question isn't:
WHAT IF JESUS GIVES ME IMMEASURABLY MORE?
Maybe the question is:
WHAT IF JESUS IS MY IMMEASURABLY MORE?
And
WHAT IF
RIGHT HERE,
RIGHT NOW,
before anything around you changes,
you could begin experiencing
the
IMMEASURABLY MORE OF JESUS
simply because
HE IS WITH YOU.
And maybe that's when you finally discover
you don't need another
CRUTCH.
You need JESUS.
Because
“WE ALL NEED JESUS.”
(listen to the song below)
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