Lean on Me
By Grant Gaines
If you ever go to Africa you will be astounded by the incredible scenery that stretches as far as the eye can see. Beautiful trees, pants, and mountains will take your breath away as you gaze at the beauty of God’s creation. But of course there is one other part of the African scenery that will surly catch your attention-the animals.
Lions, cheetahs, hyenas, storks, antelope, giraffes, and hippos all make up this incredible cast of African characters. But the one animal that causes all other animals to stop in amazement…or in certain cases, to sprint out of the way, is the elephant.
Elephants are massive creatures that have Superman-like strength, skin that is tough as nails, and tusks that can pierce even the thickest of metals. But do you know how these animals are restrained by their owners when they need to be tied up for the night? A small piece of rope or twine.
Yep, you read that correctly. An elephant which can crush cars with its feet and break down brick walls with its shear might are held back by a small, tiny rope.
This is all made possible because when the elephants are younger, the owners will securely fashion a massive steel chain around their legs and then anchor that chain into a sturdy fixture that is next to impossible to move. The young elephants will pull, yank, and strain with all of their might against that chain as they attempt to break free. The elephants will fight for so long that the chain will actually rub through their thick skin until it literally rubs them raw to the bone.
After the elephants lies exhausted in defeat both physically and mentally, they finally learn that no matter how hard they fight their efforts to break free are in vain.
The owner will continue to chain up the elephant in this similar fashion for several months until the animal finally stops fighting. It’s at that point that the owner will then be able to exchange the steel chain with a small rope or twine. From that point on, when the elephant feels any sort or rope-big or small-around it’s leg, it immediately assumes that it is the unbreakable chain that it was so often frustrated by as a youngster and it will no longer make any attempt to break free.
As difficult as it can be to wrap your brain around the thought of an enormous elephant being restrained by a small rope, the worst part of this story is that we are no different than those elephants. You see, God has given us freedom from ALL sin through a relationship with Jesus Christ because, “God made [Jesus] who never sinned to become sin for us so that through [a relationship with Jesus], we might become the righteous in God’s eyes” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NLT). Galatians 5:24 (NIV) says, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” And Romans 6:18 (NIV) joyfully tells us that, “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”
However, despite this incredible freedom that we have through Christ, so many of us willingly return ourselves to a yoke of sin. So many of us allow a sin that Christ has already paid for and freed us from to rule over us once more as if it were our slave master. So many of us willingly put the handcuffs of sin around our wrists and stand in the jail cell of misery even though we have every right to live freely. This is the trap that a crippled man in Acts 3 quickly found himself sinking into.
Acts 3 opens up by telling us that there was a man who had been crippled from birth who was placed outside the Temple gate called Beautiful every day to beg for money from those going in and out of the Temple. One day, Peter and John were on their way to the Temple when the crippled man asked them for change (money) only to receive true change (healing and transformation) from the two apostles.
I love Acts 3:7-8 (NIV) because it picks up on the story of the crippled man right after Peter and John healed him-“Taking [the crippled man] by the right hand, [Peter] helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.” What a beautiful sight! I imagine this guy being almost as happy as a dog gets when he hears the word “W-A-L-K.” There was no way you could contain this man’s joy!
But the story ends in a strange way. After this man was running, jumping, and leaping in jovial celebration of his newfound freedom, Acts 3:11 (NIV) records that, “While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade.”
Did you notice the man’s posture in that verse? It says that he “held on to” Peter and John while the crowd was rushing around him. God had just healed him so that he could leap and yet he was busy leaning on Peter and John. God gave him freedom, but he chose slavery.
I wonder how many times we do that exact same thing. I wonder how many times instead of leaping through life joyfully in the freedom we have from our sins we instead go back to leaning on those old, sinful, life-sucking habits. I wonder how many times we allow ourselves to be enslaved to a small piece of twine which has no real power over us like the elephants in Africa do.
We fall into this trap every time we return to our sinful patterns. Proverbs 26:11 (NIV) tells us that, “As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.” That’s the vivid, disgusting picture that God wants you and me to visualize when we consider returning to our sins.
God didn’t just desire for us to be free, He did something about it by paying the price so that we could actually realize that freedom. Isaiah 53:5 (NIV) describes this payment by saying, “But [Jesus] was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”
We have no excuse to walk in sin. There is no temptation that you are facing right now that God has not provided you with the strength to escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). And most importantly, God has given us the Holy Spirit who will help us walk in purity and righteousness (John 14).
Are you leaping through this life as God wants you to, or are you leaning on your old, sinful ways?
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©Grant Gaines 2013
