All-Inclusive

All-Inclusive. We have heard the term and may have even taken an All-Inclusive vacation. "Leaving your wallet and your worries behind" certainly sounds enticing. Yet, like a lot of things in life, it is only a half-truth. All-Inclusive does not mean that everything is included.











A co-worker of mine recently went on an all-inclusive cruise in the Bahamas. He soon found out that his trip was All-Inclusive with an asterisk. A 20-minute round trip taxi ride to the beach cost him $85. A beach chair rental set him back another $15. I guess if you stay on the boat and only eat and drink what the cruise provides, you might be able to survive without your wallet, and perhaps your worries.

In this life, there is only One thing that is truly All-Inclusive and He has a name, Jesus. Through belief in Jesus' atoning and sin-absolving death and resurrection on the cross, we become followers of Him. Jesus then provides to us an All-Inclusive and irreversible access to Himself. We are made new because He puts His very spirit into our hearts and begins to live His life in and through us. We are adopted as His sons and daughters and are fellow heirs with Christ. With Jesus everything really is included.

Here is one of my favorite sections from Romans 8: 9-17. As believers in Jesus, it should be one of the most uplifting and encouraging things we can read:

 Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

So here is a revised ad:

"All-Inclusive Savior, Jesus. Leave your wandering and worry behind."

Count me in!