I was kind of excited to see the new Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner hanging in their shower. I couldn’t wait to try it. I slid the shower door open, pushed the blue button and slid the shower door closed. I waited. Soon, the soap dispenser looking contraption hanging from the shower head started making a loud noise. I didn’t recognize the noise from the television commercial, so I slid the door back open to check out the problem. I should have waited a couple seconds longer. Right then, the machine started to pulsate and before I knew how to react, I got shot in both eyes with the cleaning solution as the automatic sprayer began its 360 degree spin around the shower. Soap in your eyes, whether you have contacts or not, always burns. I immediately grabbed the wet washcloth and held it to my eyes to try and relieve the intense stinging.
It reminds me of sin. Too often we push the button and then sometimes choose to resist that temptation and walk away. But then there are these Sodom & Gomorrah moments in which curiosity is stirred and you just can’t help but turn around and look back. It’s not even necessarily that you want to partake in the sin as to maybe think about it for another few minutes — but then, unexpectedly, you get hit. You should have kept walking away from the situation, but curiosity killed the cat. You were lured and reminded once again that you don’t always have to get hooked to understand the consequences of sin.
The experience of absence does not mean the absence of experience.
Some friends recently shared with me how they continue getting caught-up in the same sin. “Like a dog returns to its vomit.” It sounds silly, I know. Why do we get so easily entangled again and again in the same things? The method of entrapment may look different, but more often than not, there are striking similarities that cause me to hesitate before I keep walking forward. It’s like the fisherman who uses different colors, shapes, sizes, and texture of tackle to catch his fish. But the fish have to get smarter. I have to get smarter. At the end of each line, there is always a hook.
The crazy thing is the fisherman always fishes off the same dock.
My advice to my friends is this: When you’re swimming around and you see fun & colorful lures in the water — think about your location and just forget about how cool the fisherman’s tackle looks. You need to remember the lure is always diguising the hook. But there is hope because the place of familiarity will soon begin to become a place of old.
But only if you choose to just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming…
