My stomach roiled. An uncontrollable retch erupted, and the dry heaves had me again.
Had I not already been on my knees, the retching would have driven me there. I was on the floor of our sparkling new, renovated bathroom, surrounded by smeared feces. The smell of the pine cleaner, ammonia, and chlorine weren’t enough to cover the smell. And they did nothing for the sight, the awful sight, of the condition of our new bathroom.
My poor ninety-three-year-old father-in-law was having a bad day. Physically healthy for his age, Father Kirby had Alzheimer’s. And like most semi-advanced Alzheimer’s patients, he had an episode of incontinence every once in a while. Like today. And this one was a doozy.
Evidently, he had realized his uh-oh and gone to the bathroom to try and clean up. But unfortunately, he only succeeded in smearing it virtually everywhere. Eventually, he must have forgotten what he was doing and wandered out of the bathroom. I discovered him a few minutes later, or rather my nostrils did, and I promptly hustled him into a hot bath. But that still left the bathroom to clean.
So here I was, on my knees, scrubbing the bathroom. Between violent retches, I asked God for help. I thought maybe he would close my nostrils or still my stomach to help me get through this, but instead, something else happened. He showed me sin. In a sudden revelation, I realized this was how sin looked to God. All sin, from harmless white lies to mass murder, carries this awful, terrible stench to God.
I had never thought about sin like this. Of course, I knew my past and continuing sins, but they were always sort of an abstract concept. Here was sin as God saw it, up close and personal … and awful. And as I pondered this, I noticed a few minutes later that I had finished cleaning the bathroom without realizing it.
My life has been a series of lessons, some harder than others.
Thank You, Father, for using this opportunity to teach me and for Your revelation. But it would certainly be okay if we didn’t have to repeat this one.
Do you see sin as God does?
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
(For more devotions, visit Christian Devotions.)
Kevin Spencer likes to play with words, help others play with them, and is privileged to be a staff writer for Christian Devotions. He lives with his beautiful blessing of a wife, Charlotte, and his amazing collegiate grandson, Caleb.