Looney Tunes and Sin

Each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.- James 1:14-15

Saturday mornings when I was a kid were devoted to cartoons. My brother and I used to get up early to watch Doug, Recess, Pinkie and the Brian and my personal favorite Looney Tunes. Nothing compares to watching Bugs Bunny (What's up Doc?), Elmer Fude (I'm hunting rabbits), Porkey Pig (that's all folks), Donald Duck (Insert best DD impersonation here), or my personal favorite Coyote and Road Runner. The persistent coyote always trying to catch RR and either blowing himself up in the process or falling off cliffs was always a great source of entertainment. I will always remember the episode when coyote decided to build a snowball and roll it down a mountain. His plan was to have the small snowball at the top of the mountain gain momentum and snow as it rolled down until it picked up size and speed slamming into RR at the bottom. RR got away and coyote, of course, got caught in the snow ball and was rolled off the mountain. 

Coyote, Road Runner, and the giant snowball provides a great example of the runaway nature of sin. According to James 1:14-15, "each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death". Sin is like the snowball. No-one wakes up one day and says, "Hum, today I'm going to commit a grievous sin which will cost me everything." No, sin usually starts off "innocently" enough. We tell ourselves it's just this one time, no-one will know, I'm not hurting anyone, etc. One small compromise, one small step over the line leads to more frequent steps over the line. Eventually, one sin doesn't satisfy anymore, therefore, you have to take another step and another and another. Before we know it our sin has gone from a little snowball to a giant one as we continue to sin. Eventually, our sin rolls out of control, we can't hide it anymore, and we end up like the coyote being run over by our sin.

Thankfully the Bible tells us that when we are tempted we should cry out to God asking for help. We have a high priest who in every way was tempted like we are, yet he was without sin. Jesus is able to sympathize with us in our weakness. God's word tells us that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Our fate doesn't have to be like the coyotes if we cry out to God He will hear our prayers and forgive us.

In conclusion, Coyote, Road Runner and the giant snowball provide a great example of the runaway nature of sin, but our fate doesn't have to be like Coyotes if we cry out to God when we fail He will hear our cry and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.