All, Not Some

The sentence is short enough to memorize, and wide enough to change how you read the whole Bible. God wills that all men be saved. Not many. Not the deserving. Not only the ones who happened to hear. All.

If that is what God wills, then the question is no longer whether he is willing, but whether anything can finally defeat his will. Scripture is consistent on this: his purposes are not fragile. He is not waiting to see how the story turns out. He has already declared the ending — and the ending is a house full of rescued children.

It is the knowledge of the truth that saves, and God has appointed a day for that truth to reach every person he has made. Nobody is written off in advance. So pray again for the people you have quietly given up on. The verse you are holding is wider than your hope for them, and it was meant to be.