All Things.

"With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth."

(Ephesians 1:8b-10)

Sometimes those of us "within the Church" get caught up in the extremely unproductive practice of trying to discern whom God will welcome into eternity, and whom God will exclude. We talk theology ("you must/can't believe this/that")... morality ("God despises those who do this/that")... church denominations ("those who go to this church/religion can/can't get in")... sins ("those who've done this/that are damned")... forgiveableness ("this/that is unforgivable in the eyes of God")... etc. We're often SO SURE about who's out/in... and then we come to passage like Ephesians 1:10.

The apostle Paul, in his opening sentences to the church in Ephesus, says that God's plan through Christ Jesus is to "gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth."

Let that sink in for a while.

He didn't say "gather all believers"... or "all the faithful"... or even "all who confess Jesus as Lord and Savior". No, he said ALL THINGS. Period. To borrow a popular phrase today, "All means all."

Wow. That completely changes one's thinking about heaven/eternity, doesn't it? If it's God's plan and desire to draw all things to himself... then it's pointless (and fruitless) for us to spend any time trying to discern who's "worthy" of God's love, acceptance, and grace. (And we definitely don't need to be arguing or fighting about it!)

All means all.

God's desire is to draw all things to Him.

May we have a similar love for and grace toward all things... in heaven, and on earth. AMEN.