Wet Paint & Forbidden Fruit

Does this sign attract you like a magnet? I tried an experiment some years ago: I placed that sign on a park bench, outside the office I worked in, where I could observe it without being seen. Over the next few days, I watched as about one in every three people touched the paint, just to check if it really was wet. Some people even touched it again when their fingers came away dry.

About a week later, I replaced the sign with another one that read, “Dry paint-you can touch now.” Most people ignored the new sign; some looked at it, and shook their heads, as if making a silent comment about the painter’s stupidly.
 

What is it about the forbidden that attracts us so easily? Advertising agencies long ago made the connection between our lustful nature and product sales. Even a hint of the forbidden, and a product sells. We all face temptation, and many of us seem unable to conquer that carnal side of our souls. There is no sin in facing those temptations, but linger awhile with the thoughts or actions, and they become increasingly difficult to defeat.   

  

The Apostle Paul faced the same difficulties as we do. His cry has echoed down through the ages. 

“For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil, which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me.” Romans 7:15-20  

Sin and temptation are usually well packaged and presented, otherwise, why would they appear so desirable to us? I enjoy spending time fishing for trout, and the hours spent in knee-deep water afford me many moments of reflection. Why would fish willingly follow a lure and end up on my dinner plate? I fish with an enticement! I set out to trick the fish into reacting to the presence of an attractive, brightly coloured trap, which could cost them their very existence.  I could stand on the edge of the lake and will the trout to come to me, but no, I have to take direct, covert action. No doubt some of the fish have been trapped before, but managed to escape, and some have been caught and released, but most end up in the freezer or on the dinner plate.  

We are often just as easily caught ourselves. Hopefully as we grow and mature as Christians, we learn to avoid many of the traps set for the unwary, but I know from personal experience the ease with which I fall into the mire of temptation again and again. 

What then is the answer to our predicament? How can we walk blameless before God?

The answer lies partly in the following verse: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18. Today’s Living Bible expresses it: “And so the Spirit of the Lord works within us, and we become more and more like Him.”

We need to learn to ignore the “wet paint” signs and to resist the temptation to give into the lusts that so easily entrap us. When we received Christ, we died to sin and its power to dominate our lives was broken. Satan and sin have not died; they are still strong and appealing. But you no longer have to sin because you are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.

“You are not dead to sin because you consider it so; you consider it so because it is so. In Christ you have already died to sin.” Romans 6:11

“Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts.” Romans 6:11-12

Donald Duck image: in the public domain