When Christianity Becomes a Crutch

One thing that Christians face throughout there life is ridicule. Regardless of where they are, if they are truly saved, they will be mocked, scoffed at, and in some cases murdered. Christians in the west are far less familiar with the third--murder--but scorn on behalf of Christ should be something that every Christian faces--it is a test which produces glorious, God-given wisdom and maturity. Among the many ridicules I have heard personally against my faith, one stands above all the rest--that the Christ whom I serve, and the faith I have in him, are nothing more than a crutch. Much of the lost world, due to the pollution they have suffered at the hands of godless philosophies--what Francis Schaeffer called "antiphilosophies"--believe that trusting in a Christ who would die on a Cross—even coming to the realization that one is in need of a saviour--, is the greatest weakness of all—that being a display of one's own weakness. A derivative of the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, this attack on Christianity attempts to call into question one of the foundational doctrines the Christian faith is built on--that being our own weakness and inability to do anything outside of God's merciful grace. This teaching is blasphemous and false almost all of the time. Yes, I said almost. As I study the lives of Christian friends and relatives, I find more and more evidence that lawless—antinomian--Christianity is nothing more than a crutch.
Nowadays, many of those who would call themselves Christian's behave in such a way that brings much shame to the Holy name of Christ and much disgrace to those Christian's dying for their faith, walking in light, and pursuing God with their whole heart. These so-called brothers (1 Corinthians 5) live lives which are saturated with "sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these" (Galatians 5:19-21, ESV). Perhaps these godless Christians--what Craig Groeschel calls "Christian Atheists," in his 2010 book on the subject--do not delve into such obvious sins as Sorcery or orgies; however, drunkenness, sexual immorality, sensuality, impurity, envy, fits of anger, enmity, etc. are indeed a chief ingredient in the life of these desperately immoral religious folk.
And all this unrighteousness they do in the name of Christ. Whether they "continue in sin that grace may abound" (Romans 6:1) or live a constant pattern or unrighteousness based on the belief that Christ's blood has not, indeed, freed them from sins bondage, but has merely freed them from the consequences of sins bondage, and thereby "freed" them to a bondage to and constant carrying out of sin--that being consequence free, of course—they all sin under the name of Christ.
I believe that when one examines this lifestyle--the lifestyle of "christians" which I find more abundant in the west than I do anywhere--they must come to the conclusion that this Christianity is nothing more than a crutch, and for this reason--this person uses Christianity, as far as I am concerned, in the same way that an excess of drugs or alcohol are used--to numb the senses; to make one forget about the true consequences of life; to completely immobilize any consciousness of impending death. By the same token, many of these so-called brothers claim belief in Christ only for supposed freedom TO--not from--sin that they believe they will find. They are unable to cope with the dreadful reality that God hates all workers of iniquity (Psalm 5) and is angry with sin all day and night and will one day cast those workers of iniquity into the wine press of His wrath (Revelation 14:17-20). For this person, Christianity is not a lifestyle--it is not a glorious enslavement to Christ, and service to Him here on earth--it is nothing more than a crutch. Yes, a symbol of weakness, but the greatest weakness of all--a weakness masked in pride; a weakness that is unable to accept its own reality and trust in Christ for strength; a weakness that, in an effort to avoid acknowledgment of the truth, attempts to use Christ as some sort of reality erasing drug.
But such lifestyles pose the question, “What does real Christianity look like?” Such a question is far more complex than I can answer, but I do find this in common with all the saints—weakness. Dare I say that Christians are the most desperately weak beings in all of humanity? I must, when I remember my conversion and life after Christ saved me, affirm the weakness of Christians. Before our regeneration and salvation, we Christians are haters of God, not striving to do His will, but striving against Him in enmity. We do not seek after God--this I can attest to from personal experience, as Christ saved me from bondage to my own lusts, not of my own will and choice, but clearly because of a regeneration and salvation which He wrought and I am thankful for. Not only is this true, but also true is the fact that, though He created us, our God cannot even bear the sight of us. Our whole self is contaminated with sin. We are consumed with evil, and our all righteous, consuming fire of a creator cannot be around us in our iniquity. But our great weakness serves to our benefit. God, being rich in mercy, predestined us to adoption as sons, and accomplished our adoption, not with money, which rusts and burns, but with the Holy Blood of Christ that accomplishes salvation for those weak beings whom He loves and called to himself. And His blood did not accomplish a license to constant unrighteousness, but it accomplished freedom from the burden of God's wrath, and the bondage that is sin. We now, by the Election of the Father, Sacrifice of Christ the son, and righteous power of the Holy spirit, can work works that are pleasing to God, not because of our own goodness, but because of the fact that we are covered in the blood of Christ.
So, Christians--those who know Grace not as a license to unrighteousness, but a freedom from it--when your faith is called into question in this manner, do not be discouraged. At one time, this statement produced such rage in me; such anger resulted when I heard that my faith was a crutch; but now, when my faith is questioned in this manner, by the grace of God I am able to use that attack as a tool for mortification--by constantly reminding myself that at the moment that I begin to treat Christ as my license to Evil, I deface my God; I call unholy the eternally Holy; and that blasphemy is surely deserving of God's wrath.
Also, when you are met with such claims, do not forget the multitudes of lost men and women who cannot say with assurance that Christ is their Salvation--their crutch, if you will. Constantly be reminded that everywhere you go--on every street corner, in every store, in every town--there are lost souls that God has required you to evangelize. Make that your constant work, and do not make Christianity an excuse for unrighteousness. Do not make Christianity a crutch.