O taste and see that the Lord is good! Psalm 34:8

Stop for a minute and think of the commercials you love-the entertaining ones that get you to stop channel surfing for 30 seconds and give the batteries in your remote a well-deserved break. You know, the commercials that make you buy the things you do. Does your favorite ad feature a super athlete or a super-sized burger? Does it tell you about a new flavor of barbeque chips or a new cure for barbeque breath? My personal favorite is the one with that little doughboy who doesn't seem to mind that he's pudgy, let alone naked. He runs around giggling until the cinnamon rolls are ready, but instead of eating them, he's happy just getting poked in the belly! Go figure.

Whether your favorite commercial stars a toucan who sniffs cereal or a snuggly bear who sniffs laundry, the effective ones have the same thing in common: They never force their message on you. They never tell you that you need anything; they simply make you want it.

I can honestly say that Little Debbie has never had to twist my arm to get me to eat a Nutty Bar. Nor has anyone ever force-fed me a Twinkie. All it takes is one mouth-watering glance at that cream-filled center. Or a quick glimpse of caramel nougat. Just show me a tight shot of a food dehydrator overflowing with beef jerky, and before you know it, you'll have to peel me off the screen.

Mmm-Mmm Good!

For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, and the hungry soul He has filled with what is good (Psalm 107:9).

Twinkies, Nutty Bars and beef jerky can be quite tasty. But did you know that the Word of God can be just as tempting? The psalmists wrote, "O taste and see that the Lord is good!" (Psalm 34:8) and "How sweet are Your words to my taste!" (Psalm 119:103, NKJV). Yet when we tell people about Christ, we often forget those verses and head straight for the passages about guilt, the wrath of God or eternal damnation. That's like telling a kid he should eat his meatloaf because there are starving kids in China-it doesn't work. Does anyone buy Lucky Charms for the eight important vitamins? No! They're after those tasty marshmallow stars. Sure, I can try to tell people why Lucky Charms is good for them, but there are better things to focus on.

Just like a cream-filled Twinkie, the Bible is filled with reasons why you should want it. But too often we get stuck on telling people why they need it.

By calling attention to the goodness of God, you'll find it's easier to give your friends reasons why they should want Christ. It's not that Jesus is boring and sticky buns are not. Actually, nothing is more exciting than living for Christ! But telling people they need Christ-or anything else, for that matter-is a sure way to turn them off. One of the first things I learned as a copywriter is that if you have to say it's fun, it isn't. If you say it's cool, they'll know it's dorky. If you tell someone they need it, they won't want it. The product ends up sounding dull, like cod-liver oil in a world of colas.

Take my personal relationship with lima beans. I can't stand them because they were something I was forced to eat as a child. A truly tasteless form of torture. My dad would make me sit at the table for hours until they were all gone-and the only thing worse than eating lima beans is eating cold lima beans.

My lingering feelings toward lima beans are not worth going to therapy over; I already know I hate them because they were forced upon me. But I also know that if lima beans had been a treat offered to me as a reward for cleaning my plate, I might be open to eating them today.

Hey, Mikey! He Likes It!

Remember the classic commercial for Life cereal? Two brothers are pushing a bowl of cereal back and forth because they had heard "It's supposed to be good for you." Neither of them wants to try it, so they give it to their little brother, Mikey, who doesn't know it's good for him. And they find out he likes it-he really likes it!

Well, Life cereal and the Book of life have a lot in common. If you want people to try it, don't make them think they need it. Make them want to dig in for themselves.

Continued