Who do you attract?

David has an insightful post at Jollyblogger on the parable of the prodigal son. Both brothers in the parable are at one point lost--the younger in his irreligion and the elder in his religion. Here's the lesson David draws:

The outcome of both religion and irreligion are the same – lostness. The gospel is a “third way” of salvation that is neither through religion or irreligion.

David then delivers this knockout blow, in the word of Tim Keller:

The point? When the message of the gospel is clear, moral people tend to dislike it, while irreligious people are intrigued and attracted. The way to know that you are communicating and living the same gospel message as Jesus is that “younger brothers” are more attracted to you than elder brothers. This is a very searching test, because almost always, our churches are not like that. The kinds of people that were attracted to Jesus are not attracted to us.

Jollyblogger's article is worth reading. Please do.

Update: Looking at my post this morning, the English teacher in me cries out that the title should have been Whom do you attract? But changing it would disrupt the aggregator links, and whom looks just a little too pedantic anyway.