Attractive part 2
Eve was deceived because the lie was attractive. The fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was pleasing to the eye. The idea of "do in order to be" made perfect sense to the carnal mind. The serpent knew something that the church world seems to have forgotten: You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. For a long time now it seems like all religious people can think of to do is try to "scare people straight." Unfortunately... that doesn't work. At all. You know the old saying: Strict parents produce sneaky kids. Because people are gonna do what they're gonna do. Fear of punishment is REALLY fear of getting caught. That's why Adam and Eve HID from the presence of God after their "eyes" were opened and they went from being naked to being naked and ashamed. When God confronted them, Adam even went so far as to blame Eve. Who immediately blamed the serpent. They weren't sad that they had disobeyed God. They were afraid of God's punishment. Here's where the script gets flipped tho; God is not in the punishment business! He's in the reconciliation business! Look at 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." To me that seems pretty simple, and pretty amazing. He did all the work--when Jesus was lifted up on the cross He drew all men unto Himself--and all we do is pass it on. That's what a witness does: He shares his experience. That's what the New Commandment is: Love one another as God loves you. Simply receive it and release it. But even this we've twisted into something unrecognizable. We've made the ministry of reconciliation--really, really good news--something terrifying. "Get right or get left!" "If you reconcile with God He won't punish you! Turn or burn!" Guys. The reconciliation happened. It's a done deal. It is finished. The ministry of reconcilation isn't about trying to get people to reconcile. It's about spreading the good news that we HAVE been reconcilied! It's about telling people what HAS happened. Telling people what IS true. Right now. Today. And when people know and believe the truth, that's when it becomes true... for them. That's when the reconciliation that is already true begins to manifest in their lives. That's when people see something BETTER than what they have. Something atttractive. And when someone offers you something better than what you've got... you'd be a fool not to take it. "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" (Romans 2:4). The scariness of God doesn't lead people to repentance. The scariness of God leads people to hid from Him. To run FROM Him instead of running TO Him. And that's the opposite of what we want. We don't want to scare people away. We want to wrap them up in a loving embrace and love the hell out of them. We don't want people to think God is a ball and chain they have to drag around. We want people to know the truth. When God shows up kindess and love shows up. Because that's who God is! And that's about as attractive as it gets!