Why Don't We Understand All?
What part of the word "all" is hard to understand? God desires "all" people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.(I Timothy 2:3,4) Jesus gave Himself as a ransom for "all."(I Timothy 2:5,6) That is why Paul exhorts Timothy, his son in the faith, to lead his church family in Ephesus to pray for "all" people, even for kings and all in authority. It is the desire of God's heart that all will be saved, and it should be the desire of our hearts, as well.
It changes our lives and our ministries when we understand that all means all. No one is excluded from God's love. No one is beyond His salvation. There is not a single person for whom Christ did not die. The heart of God is to seek and to save all, because all are lost without a relationship with Christ. When we have God's heart, every person we see is dear to us, and we desire for them to come to know Christ. Therefore, we take the Great Commission seriously to make disciples of "all" the nations, which means every people group in the world.
I am afraid we don't understand all for several reasons. We are comfortable and lazy, and we don't want to put forth the time, effort, and resources to reach out to all people. We want to be a part of an exclusive group, even though God wants us to be inclusive. We are uncomfortable with people who are not like us, so we stay away from them, instead of loving them and showing Christ to them. That is why Philippians 2:5 commands us to have the same mind that Christ had when we came to earth as a servant to die for all people that all people might be saved. Let's work on that this Christmas, because that is supposed to be what Christmas is all about.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Timothy 3-5.
It changes our lives and our ministries when we understand that all means all. No one is excluded from God's love. No one is beyond His salvation. There is not a single person for whom Christ did not die. The heart of God is to seek and to save all, because all are lost without a relationship with Christ. When we have God's heart, every person we see is dear to us, and we desire for them to come to know Christ. Therefore, we take the Great Commission seriously to make disciples of "all" the nations, which means every people group in the world.
I am afraid we don't understand all for several reasons. We are comfortable and lazy, and we don't want to put forth the time, effort, and resources to reach out to all people. We want to be a part of an exclusive group, even though God wants us to be inclusive. We are uncomfortable with people who are not like us, so we stay away from them, instead of loving them and showing Christ to them. That is why Philippians 2:5 commands us to have the same mind that Christ had when we came to earth as a servant to die for all people that all people might be saved. Let's work on that this Christmas, because that is supposed to be what Christmas is all about.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Timothy 3-5.