Use God as a Crutch

This short little four part series helps us see the need to a broken heart before God. Step one towards "If It Ain't Broken Than Fix It" was the willingness to destroy our self-will. Deciding that I will obey God over my own will – every time without question is a step toward becoming broken before God. Step two is even worse!

We live in this world of self-help and self-confidence books, seminars, conferences and motivational speakers. We have been told since before Billy Joel came out with his 1978 hit single "My Life" that we do not need to rely on anyone or anything else. In fact, the chorus was:

I don't need you to worry for me cause I'm alright, I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home,

I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life, Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone.

Then it ends repeating a constant refrain:

Keep it to yourself, it's my life

Even the phrase "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps" is an indication of a self made man who did it all without the help of anyone else and overcame his dire circumstances all on his own strength.

I met this principle a number of months back when I felt as though I could not make a decision for direction for Osceola Grace with any sort of confidence. It was then that 2 Corinthians 12:10 became very real to 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."

I was feeling weak and I felt like I was being attacked and criticized on every front (and often behind my back J). Life was difficult and discouraging. Then I read this verse and all of the surrounding passage. I began to realize that I relied much on my own intelligence, wisdom, leadership skills and self confidence.

As God stripped that away, he replaced it with something so much greater:

2 Corinthians 3:4-5 told me "Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. {5} Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God."

I shared with someone that I had no confidence in myself left and they patted my shoulder and said, "Don't worry, you'll get it back." Because of how God was working in me – I realized that I didn't want SELF-confidence back. What I needed and wanted was "GOD-confidence". This is all that is will work. That word "competent" means "sufficiency, security or adequacy".

Step Two: Stop being self-reliant, self-confidant and independent.

Ask God to remove, demolish and dismantle your self-confidence. That is scary but it is SO freeing when you realize that it will make you weak. It will make you vulnerable. It will make you question every "next step". BUT… it will cause you to rely on the only One that can sustain you, the only One who can give you strength, the only One that supplies the competence and security that never fails!

Replace your worthless SELF-confidence with the only worthy "confidence" that comes through total reliance on the grace and sufficiency of God Almighty! What better "crutch" to support and sustain us than the one who holds it all together anyway!