In Galveston, Texas, a hotel on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico put this notice in each room:

No Fishing From the Balcony

Yet every day, hotel guests threw in their lines to the waters below. Then the management decided to take down the signs—and the fishing stopped!

In his Confessions, Augustine (354-430), the well-known theologian, reflected on this attraction to the forbidden. He wrote, “There was a pear tree near our vineyard, laden with fruit. One stormy night we rascally youths set out to rob it . . . . We took off a huge load of pears—not to feast upon ourselves, but to throw them to the pigs, though we ate just enough to have the pleasure of the forbidden fruit. They were nice pears, but it was not the pears that my wretched soul coveted, for I had plenty better at home. I picked them simply to become a thief. . . . The desire to steal was awakened simply by the prohibition of stealing.”

Romans 7 sets forth the truth illustrated by Augustine’s experience: Human nature is inherently rebellious. Give us a law and we will see it as a challenge to break it. Jesus, however, forgives our lawbreaking and gives us the Holy Spirit. He imparts a new desire and ability so that our greatest pleasure becomes bringing pleasure to God.

  — Haddon W. Robinson