I am pretty sure the Apostle Paul will be in the First Resurrection..
2Co 6:4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,
2Co 6:5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;
2Co 6:6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love;
2Co 6:7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;
2Co 6:8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true;
2Co 6:9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed;
2Co 6:10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
2Co 6:11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open.
2Co 11:23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one--I am talking like a madman--with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.
2Co 11:24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.
2Co 11:25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
2Co 11:26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;
2Co 11:27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
2Co 11:28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
2Co 11:29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
2Co 11:30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
I bet Paul would say that the burden was light...but WHOA WHOA looked what it cost Him to qualify... read the above....and how do I know Paul thought all that above was light? By his own words...
2Co 4:17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
2Co 4:18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
So I do think if you are chosen to be in the First Resurection Kat hit it right on the head when she said...
if you are one of the few. I do not believe that anybody will wake up in the first resurrection and think, 'wow I made it and it wasn't that hard at all, I just waited on God and here I am.' I truly believe to be in that first resurrection His Spirit in us will bring about a great deal of striving and overcoming, which will product good works and you would certainly know you were in a hard, long race to get there. So yes we should strive, that is why Jesus said "Strive (fight, labor fervently) to enter in at the narrow gate" (Luke 13:24).
And I think all the blood sweat and tears will be but a momentary light affliction, an easy yoke, with Jesus in us and the comparison to the eternal weight of Glory put before us. Let everyone judge themselves but I think the standard is high and I think the proper attitude IS to pursue the First Resurrection EVEN though no one has been told in advance whether we are chosen or not. Just because God has already ordained who does not for one second the command to seek for it with all your heart.
1Co 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
1Co 9:25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
1Co 9:26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.
1Co 9:27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.