After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. Revelation 7:9 NIV
A teenager named Arina was searching for God. But the closer she got, the more she was afraid she might lose.
Arina lives in the country of Kazakhstan. She’s been introduced to Jesus through social media. “I want to accept Christianity,” she says, “but I’m scared. My parents and everyone around me are against it. They say I’m betraying my identity as a Kazakh. They yell at me and curse me.”
Her parents’ message was clear: follow Jesus and you’ll lose who you are. But here’s what’s true: following Jesus isn’t adopting a Western religion. Jesus wasn’t Western—He was born in the Middle East. Scripture is clear that He came for every person, in every culture, in every corner of the world.
God doesn’t ask us to stop being Kazakh or Cambodian or Kenyan or Canadian. The Bible tells us God determined the times and places where every people group would live—which means Arina’s culture, her language, her people aren’t obstacles to faith (Acts 17:26). They’re gifts from the God she is searching for.
Faith in Jesus doesn’t erase who we are. It fulfills who we were made to be—worshippers of the living God. In coming to Jesus, Arina is becoming more herself—fully known, named, and loved by the God who made her Kazakh in the first place.
The Bible describes heaven filled with worshippers the world over: “a great multitude that no one can count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne” (Revelation 7:9 NIV). Kazakh included.
Arina is still on her journey. Perhaps yours looks something like hers. The God who made every nation, tribe and language is calling—and he is calling you, exactly as you are. You can help others like Arina hear that call by sending devotionals like this to millions around the world in their own language. Give a gift today at guidelines.org.
