God of Nations

The resurrection is for both the righteous and the unrighteous, and that's a tough pill to swallow for many Christians. If we're all going to be resurrected and restored, then what's the point of living the life of a believer? 

But then again, God's never been quiet that this is His plan all along. 

When God first called Abraham, all the way back in Genesis, He made it clear that all the nations would be blessed through him. That he would be the man whose descendants would make God's name known for all persons in all places across all time. 

The prophet Isaiah, in one of his prophecies, referenced both Assyria and Egypt as God's possession and people. 

Then Christ comes along and says that He's come to give life to all, and He spends His entire ministry erasing the lines that men have drawn and making the circle bigger - with women, with the unclean, with the deformed and defamed, with the outsiders, with the Gentiles, even with the Romans. 

And in case you've been missing it through the thousands of years leading up to this point, it's the end cap in Acts, as well - the first book to talk about evangelizing the whole world with the Gospel of Christ. God sent His salvation to all nations (28:28). 

All. 

Period. 

This becomes a great rebuttal to those who cannot fathom a God who destroys even one speck of His creation, who would send anyone to Hell, who decides what is good and what is bad - and who is good and who is bad - in the world and treats those things differently. It's the common objection: how can a loving God even have a place outside of His love for anyone or anything? 

Yet here we see, again, that He doesn't. His entire plan was the entire world from the very beginning for the entire eternity. 

Does it make it harder for us? Sometimes. It can be easy to sit back and ask what the point is, then, of being an "insider" - of being the faithful, of being a believer, of trying to live God's way - if everyone from all nations is welcome and will be restored in the end. 

But the question that we have to ask ourselves is not whether it's worth it in the eternal sense, but whether it's worth it today. Is God making your life better today by being an active part of it and by you being an active part of His plan? Are you better off as a Christian - are you more happy, more generous, more loving, more joyful, more merciful, more gracious? Do you have more rest in your life - real rest? Are you able to let go of more things? Do you have a place and a plan for the anxieties of this world? 

Jesus said that He came that we might have life and life abundant. Not eternal, but abundant. This life. Right now. 

Salvation is for everyone, but the abundant life...that's for the faithful. So, then, is it still "worth it?" 

As for me and my household, the answer is a resounding yes.