from or to?

It occurred to me today that if we are being saved from something, aren't we also being saved to something? To grace, to salvation through that grace, to eternal life, to the Trinity, to faith and to hope, to love.

I remember when I was little, before I asked Jesus to come into my heart and save me, I remember hearing about how we have to save ourselves from hellfire and damnation, from Satan and his demons, from sinfulness, from spending an eternity in a lake of fire, suffering, pain, hopelessness. I remember feeling how scared I was of all of that. I remember thinking, "Well, I better do something different because I don't want that kind of life! Who would?" And that is ultimately the reason I accepted Jesus as my Saviour. I was scared into it.

Now, imagine if I had heard that I was being invited into something beautiful, something sacred, holy and divine, something peaceful, a life full of hope and love everlasting. I would have responded out of desire rather than out of fear. I wouldn't have felt "forced" into it by being afraid of what I would experience if I didn't. It would have been because of an invitation rather than a damnation. Doesn't that sound so much more appealing?

I think this had something to do with why I struggled in my walk with God. No one ever explained to me what I was being offered except a life free from hell. But what was in its place? What was I holding onto? What was I supposed to look for? Or do?

Have other people felt this way? Do people who are hearing the salvation plan today hear only about those things from which they will be saved if they accept it? Are they being terrified into turning away? Or invited into something? Why is it that much more often we hear about hellfire and damnation rather than heaven and salvation?

Is this why I lived out of a place of fear for so long? I didn't know what it was to live out of a place of desire? I clung so hard to that fear thinking I would burn forever if I didn't. If I had clung to desire instead would my life be different? How would it be different?

Just some thoughts I've had today...