Attractive part 1
I don't know exactly when, or why, or how, but religious folk have made the "gospel" really unattractive. "Do what I say or I'll send you to an eternity of pain and torture in a fiery hell!" That... is terrifying. Which is kind of the opposite of what the Gospel REALLY is. You know... good news... The Truth that your heavenly Father loves you so much that He would literally rather die than be without you. He has no interest in sending you away. In fact, He was on the cross reconciling you to Himself. He was lifted up from the earth and He DREW all men unto Himself. He took up abode in you. He moved into the neighborhood, and He's never moving out. But here's the real problem: "The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too" (Genesis 3:6 NLT). The lie was easy to swallow. It looked attractive. The KJV says it was pleasing to the eye. To the carnal mind, the serpent's lie made perfect sense. "You're not good enough. But if you eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you can BE good enough." That's what sin is. That's what unbelief is. The idea that you have to DO in order to BE. We don't do in order to be. We do BECAUSE we be. We don't earn anything through our behavior. Look at Titus 3:3-6, "For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour." Once blind... but now we see. Once deceived... but now we know the truth. Once we thought working to earn our bread by the sweat of our brow was attractive. But it doesn't take long to find out that slavery is the worst. Almost immediately after eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil--the tree of death--Adam and Eve HID from the presence of God. They were naked before they ate, and naked after they ate, but having their "eyes opened" changed how they saw themselves. They were naked... and ashamed. They hid from God and they tried to hide their nakedness. They thought He would be mad and punish them--and while it might seem like He did that very thing, He really didn't... casting them out of the garden of Eden was actually a mercy, and was done for their own good... AND He covered them with Lamb skins because they wanted to be covered, but couldn't cover themselves. They thought they were going to get the fiery punishment. BUT the kindness and love appeared. Because that's who God IS. Whenever and whereever He appears, kindness and love appears. God doesn't give us bad. He gives us... Himself. Every single time. Because, as we're going to explore in this Rant series, it is the GOODNESS of God that leads men to repentance! And THAT'S good news. THAT's attractive!