Attractive part 4
The grass is greener on the other side, right? That's what they say? Well, in the religious world we MAKE the grass look greener on the other side. We have produced such an unattractive "gospel" that we have people running FROM God instead of running TO God. I still remember how I felt when someone I cared about told me, "It's too late, I know I'm going to hell." It felt like I got punched in the stomach. And the worst part was the size of the divide. I didn't even know how to reach across and tell her the GOOD NEWS. I didn't even know where to start. And the worst part of this "hell is where bad people go where they die" doctrine is... somehow the emphasis got put on US to prove our innocence. I mean, even the system of law has you innocent until proven guilty. But with God we assume ourselves guilty unless we can somehow earn our innocence. Completely backwards, even from a "natural" point of view. And somehow this God that has (seemingly) judged us guilty and sentenced us to eternity in a fiery hell... somehow this God is love? I don't get it. That's why I pretty well start and end my doctrine WITH "God is love." What else do we need to know? The everlasting life-long journey is a journey into the heart of the matter. And the heart of the matter is God's heart beating with love in our chests. Jesus is the Alpha and Omega. Love is the beginning and the end. And everything in between. Which SHOULD make this whole thing really simple. Look at 2 Corinthians 11:3, "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." This is a warning. And warnings generally come after the offense occurs. We're really good at locking the barn after the horse has gotten out, right? My point is... it's really easy to be beguiled. We started this Rant series with the idea that Eve was so easily deceived because the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was attractive. It was pleasing to the eye. The grass was greener. "Eat this fruit and be like God? That makes sense. Because obviously I'm not like God right now (even though I was created in His image, I don't know what He looks like so I don't know what I look like). But even though I'm not good enough as is, I can DO in order to BE. I can EARN this love and acceptance that I crave and desire." Makes sense, right? Except that's not what God ever wanted for us. He didn't want us to earn our bread by the sweat of our brow. That's why Jesus sweated great drops of blood and redeemed us from that curse. That's why God sent Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden. It wasn't punishment. It was mercy. "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one o us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also fo the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken" (Genesis 3:22-23). He didn't want us to live in that "fallen" state forever. He wanted us to experience it, so that we would be able to choose Him. See both sides of the fence, if I can say it that way. And understand that the world may have LOOKED attractive, but the Kingdom is the place to be. We'll pick this up tomorrow talking about the slave who doesn't want to leave his master. The love slave!