Does God Accept Everyone?

Most people have this innate desire to be accepted. Typically this comes from not wanting to be alone. We want security from the forces outside ourselves that threaten us. The God who created us understands this. Because we were created not to be alone, however, when sin entered humanity loneliness became part of the human condition. Insecurity resulted. Ever since, people has striven for some kind of acceptance. 

You see we were meant to be in a relationship, first with our Creator and second with one another as human beings. These relationships were to be without strife or obstacles. A relationship flowing with love and abundant life. There was to be no barrier between us and God; no wall, no curtain, no chasm. This was the environment of the Garden of Eden. A perfect place where the ills of this world we see today did not exist. However, when humanity chose to determine for themselves what should be good and what should be evil we chose to reject God’s standard of good and evil. We wanted to be the determiners of good and evil just like God.This resulted in us being expelled from Utopia and into a dystopia of our own making. Bringing about loneliness and our desire to be accepted by someone or something or some group because we have rejected the God that gave us these thing completely but now can't because of sin. However, He also knew how to fix our broken condition. Humanity has constantly been striving to overcome loneliness or being alone.

An outcome of our problem brings about certain beliefs. The very culture in which we live in today wants to believe that there are intelligent civilizations in our universe. Very intelligent people, scientists propose that because of the vastness of our universe this is proof enough for them to postulate that intelligent life must exist outside of the planet on which we live. Cultures have devoted millions upon millions of dollars trying to find intelligent life outside of our planet. That exhibit the adage "Put your money where your mouth is". You don’t spend this kind of money unless you believe in this idea. Even though there is no proof from a scientific standard. This belief still exists in the hearts of very smart people. I believe one of the motivating factors for this belief, which is a belief based on faith not true science, is because they are disillusioned with the condition of humanity on this planet. We can survey history and look at our present and understand that mankind will never fix it's broken condition.

Faith is not just a term synonymous with a religion. Faith is the mental facility every person uses every day in their practical daily lives and in their held beliefs. Faith takes what you know and helps you traverse what you don't know so that you can act on what you believe. For example; The chair you sat in was an act of faith. You believed it would support you when you sat in it and not collapse below you sending you crashing to the ground. Because before you sat in it you did not know if the integrity of the material that hold it together last time it was sat in has not been compromised. Whether by an individual out of the sight of any human eyes or that point in time were material things just wear out.

That no matter how hard humanity tries we will never overcome sickness, famine, political power struggle, murder, pride, malice, immorality, torture, and the list can go on of the evils of humanity. So some believe that just maybe an intelligence greater than ours in this vast universe will come and rescue us from the broken condition of humanity. Maybe they have an answer to our problems. If not we have to accept that were alone because for most of these people’s perspective there is no God. This then leads to a loneliness with no hope. When there is no hope there’s no reason to go. However, to survive we must believe in something outside of ourselves to keep hope alive. The world says believe in yourself. The world says believe in the greater minds of science. The world says that’s all we have because there is no God. However, believing in ourselves or in science still leaves us all alone and without a cure to the broken human condition. Why? Because we didn’t create ourselves and neither did science.

It is the Creator who understands the creation. He knows how to restore that which was broken. He knows what it takes for us to be accepted by Him.  That's why Jesus came. Because of Jesus and the resurrection we now know that God wants to bring us back to that place where we belong, Eden. Where love is the governing principle of living life. It is here in which all that ails humanity is done away with. Where no one ever suffers loss, sickness, pain or death.

I want to be accepted in order to be a part of this restored Eden. Jesus said, “all that the father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” In Jesus, God wants and is willing to accept people from every nation, no matter what your background or ethnicity is; but also expects us to be accepting of all people and not show favoritism or show prejudice towards any people.

However, even though God wants to accept everybody to be a part of his kingdom not everyone will be a part of his kingdom. Why? Because Jesus in His very first sermon said repent for the kingdom of God is near. Not everyone is willing to repent in order to be accepted by God. Repentance is essential in order to be welcomed into the kingdom of God. We must be willing to change or be changed in order to be a citizen of the kingdom of God. What does this change look like? It is an internal change. This internal change says “not my will be done but your will be done God”. It’s no longer the arbitrary standard I set up on how to live my life but it’s your standard oh God that I accept. It is what I want to live by. It’s not me who determines right or wrong but it’s you who determines what is right or wrong and I accept that as the standard by which I will now live by.

Jesus tells this parable of the kingdom of God. The setting he uses is a wedding banquet.

Matthew 22:1-14 (NIV)

 [22:1] Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: [2] “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. [3] He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

[4] “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'

[5] “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. [6] The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. [7] The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

[8] “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. [9] Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' [10] So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

[11] “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. [12] ‘Friend,' he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless.

[13] “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

[14] “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

You see the person who wanted to be a part of this amazing banquet did not want to change. He wanted all the benefits. He wanted all the perks. He wanted all the good things but he was unwilling to change therefore God would not accept him. And as the parable teaches, he was rejected. So does God accept everyone? The answer is yes however it is a conditional yes. Now don’t get this confused with God’s unconditional love. You see it is his unconditional love that extends the invitation for us to be accepted into his kingdom. He loves us no matter what our condition however that condition must change once we are in God's kingdom, if you accept citizenship into the kingdom of God.

There are many who “say” they believe in Jesus but inwardly have not changed. They hold onto their sin. They justify their sin. They refused to repent of their sin. The Bible teaches us that the demons believe in Jesus and we know they will never be chosen because they will not change. 

Acts 3:19 (NIV)

[19] Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,