I went to visit my husband the other day. When I walked into the home, I was met by one of the nurses. “Rob is leaning today,” she said.
“Leaning?”
“I don’t know,” she said calmly. “We were going to lay him down but I’ll wait since you’re here.”
I glanced up then to see him walking towards me. My hand went to my mouth to keep my chin from dropping, but nothing could stop my wide-eyed stare. “Oh my,” I exclaimed. “He’s the leaning tower of Pisa!” In fact, he was leaning over to the left so far that I couldn’t believe he was actually able to walk and maintain his balance. The funniest thing was, he didn’t seem bothered by it at all. In fact, he didn’t even seem to notice…
This condition lasted, and I realized I needed to put a humorous spin on it or I would be overcome with worry. Pisa just didn’t fit. My husband isn’t Italian. He’s Belgian! As a result, I lovingly dubbed him the “Leaning Tower of Ostend”, after his hometown. What struck me as the strangest part of all this, however, was his total lack of awareness that he was leaning to the left, and sometimes he was leaning backwards, too! How on earth did he stay upright???
But then, aren’t we all “leaning”?
Oh, we may not physically be leaning to one side, but we are all handicapped by the effects of sin on our lives; and the funny part is, we usually have no awareness of this! I’m sure that you can relate when I say that when God brings my attention to some sin in my life, very often it’s something I had no idea was even there. Yet aware or not, all through my entire life I had been “leaning” into that sin! In fact, it’s happened so many times that I have to scratch my head in wonder that I can even walk at all with all of the sin pulling at me!
Just because we are Children of God doesn’t mean that we have overcome sin. We may be aware of some of it, but often we may not even realize we are sinning! Nonetheless, whether Rob was aware he was leaning or not, he was still leaning. In the same light, sin is sin, whether I realize I’m sinning or not: “Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, he is still guilty and shall bear his punishment.” (Lev. 5:17 NASB).
As a matter of fact, unless sin is revealed to us by God’s Spirit, we may never know we continue to sin! “And [the Holy Spirit], when He comes, will convict the world regarding sin, and righteousness, and judgment: regarding sin, because they do not believe in Me…” (John 16:8-9 NASB)
If my husband continues as the “Leaning Tower of Ostend”, I fear he will start to have back pain. Let’s remember that there are consequences to our sin, as well. Even the sin we are unaware of. The Bible teaches us that we are “slaves” to sin: “ Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.'” (John 8:34 NASB), and we are only freed by the Son: “So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.” (John 8:36 NASB). And besides being slaves to sin, sin separates us from the Father: “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your wrongdoings have caused a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1-2 NASB).
Since we are all “leaning” into sin. Let’s resolve to spend some time asking God to reveal our sins to us, and let’s be ready to confess them, to renounce them, and to repent when He does. That way we can be free from the slavery of sin, so that nothing can separate us from Jesus!
Meanwhile, I’m going to be talking to the doctor about why my husband has become the “Leaning Tower of Ostend”…
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
(P.S. This was written a year ago. The doctor had no idea why Rob was leaning, but by the following day he was again standing upright, and I thank God for this!)
