As the old Chinese proverb says, “Be careful of what you ask for; you may get it!” I asked you to send comments, questions, and ideas for topics. And, you’ve already sent me some “doozies”! All your ideas are great, and I’ll do my best to get to them. But to start on them I think we need first to continue to establish some ‘ground work’ concerning God, who He is and what He is like. So, for this week’s topic, I’ve selected …
“Why did God create us?”
We’ve already spoken of God as God Almighty. In this light, He was/is Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Omnipotent. God was/is wholly sufficient to and for Himself. As such, there was/is nothing that God could possibly need, other than Himself. However, what God wanted or possibly needed to do was something else.
The Bible is full of descriptions of God (i.e. “Vengeful”, “Just”, “Merciful”, “Compassionate” for just a few), but for today’s purposes, I’d like to focus on two that speak particularly to the question, “Why did God create us?” These are: God is “Love” [1 John 4:8], and He is the “Creator” [Genesis 1:1 and 1:26]. In these two phrases, I believe we will find the answer to the question.
All things are made up by and driven to action by those characteristics which most define them; by which they are compelled to act in certain ways. Flowers exist to facilitate their plant’s need to reproduce. They are ‘born’, they serve their purpose by allowing plant DNA to be shared, and then they ‘die’. This is not a path they “choose” but is the purpose for which they were made and which they have no option other than to follow.
Trees soak up nutrients from the soil and energy from the sun. They grow and provide shade, habitat for other ‘things’ to live in and around, and food for other organisms. They cannot not do these things for it was for these purposes they were made. These activities are intrinsic to their very nature.
Animals hunt, eat, reproduce and socialize, not because these are things that they necessarily want to do, but rather what they are compelled to do by their very nature; by the characteristics which define them. Without doing these things, they wouldn’t be fish, lizards, dogs, cats, or … us.
There are things that humans are going to do, regardless of their ‘wants’ or ‘desires’. They are going to breathe and expire that which is breathed. Their hearts are going to pump. Their animal nature is going to drive them to reproduce. And their urge to gather together with other humans is going to make them form packs, tribes, or political parties.
But there is one critical difference between humans and the rest of what we know as we currently understand it. God said, “…Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves …” [Genesis 1:26]. To our knowledge, we are the only creatures who, like Him and His Angels, enjoy self-awareness and free will. And therein lies a clue that I believe answers the question we started with today.
Humans are endowed with self-awareness and Will (the ability to determine their own actions, or lack thereof). In this we are in His “likeness” (not equal to, but similar). Like Him, we possess the ability to decide what we do, how we will do it, and when we will do it. We have Will, and by our Will, we can, at least partly, subsume our more animal instincts and use our minds to help us surpass what we might be able to do using only our bodies. Our Will has allowed us to populate all regions of our planet, to make tools, to build civilizations, and even begin to rise into Space.
Our Will allows us to exhibit another aspect of our Human Character in which we are like Him; the need to create. Now, we are not the only organisms in His Creation that ‘create’. Ants, bees, birds and some mammals ‘create’. But almost all these activities are necessary for the creature’s survival and are done through instinct; not awareness or Will. Some of our creations are of necessity also, but we create many things simply for the sake of creating them: Art, Music, Literature, Usage of Electricity, 1000-foot-tall Structures, etc. None of these are necessary for our species’ survival. But, they are necessary for our species’ fulfillment; for the satisfaction of our innate need to create.
And what we create, we love and enjoy. We enjoy the music we make. We enjoy the art that we create. We enjoy (for the most part) our children (and our grandchildren even more so). We want to be surrounded by our creations and to be able to interact with them and to enjoy them. We want to “commune” with them, and the more we can do so, the happier (in the main) we tend to be.
I believe that it is in this need to create that we are most akin to (or in the “likeness of”) God. And here is our clue! For God is THE Creator. He Creates, and He Loves that which He creates! This largely defines and explains who and what He is. He can no more not create than we can cease to breathe. It is a fundamental part of who and what He IS; so much so that He is still creating. In the heavens above us new stars and galaxies are being created every day. Here on Earth new types of animals are evolving and being discovered by the dozens. He simply won’t stop Creating!
And He LOVES His Creation! Would it not be natural for Him to desire that a part of His Creation become aware of Him, and be able to commune with Him just as we desire companionship and communion with our own offspring? The Bible is full of testaments to God’s love and desire for communion with us. [Jeremiah, Proverbs, Zephaniah, John, 1 John and others] One of the main words used to describe God in the Bible is “Love”. He IS Love. All Love started with Him and our love for our creations reflects His Love for us and the rest of His Creation.
This, then is the answer to why God created us. He couldn’t not create, and He wanted a part of His Creation to be able to discern Him and to be in communion with Him. Just as we love what we have created, so much more so does He love His Creation! Just as we enjoy our creations, so much more does He revel in and enjoy His Creation! God created us to recognize Him, to be with Him, to love Him back, and to enjoy His Creation with Him for eternity.
The problem, however is that while He is perfect and capable of establishing and sustaining perfect communion with us, we/mankind are imperfect. We are inconstant, more interested in our own creations and agendas than in Him and are unable to establish and maintain the same kind of total communion with Him that is necessary to allow us to fully participate in His enjoyment. Rather than two-way mutual communication and involvement, too often our relationship with Him becomes mostly one-way, or in many cases “no-way” at all. While we have Will to create and to love in imitation of Him, we do not have the strength of Will or singleness of purpose to maintain the correct kind of connection with Him.
Of course, God expected this and knew we would be inconstant. When He gave man free will, He knew that we would exercise that will and that we would inevitably make some bad choices with it. And, that those choices would put us at ‘odds’ with Him. In other words, that we would eventually all sin. Also, that because we are imperfect even when we were able to establish communion with Him, most of us would not be able to sustain the ‘connection’ for long. (He had this same problem with the Angels!) That, of course, leads us to the nature of sin, man’s “sinful” nature, and to Jesus (and a whole bunch of other topics that we’ll deal with as we go forward together).
For now, let’s be content in the knowledge that God Intended Us. That He chose to make us in His “likeness,” and that because of that we are more fortunate than anything else in the universe that we know of. We have Will and can use that Will to chose to know Him, to abide with and in Him, and to glory in His presence every day. All else is indeed glorious and magnificent. But the rest of His Creation cannot be aware of Him, cannot know Him, and cannot love Him. Only we can do that!
His Blessings on you all.
Richard
July 6, 2018
P.S. Please don’t forget that I’m still looking for your comments, your ideas and your participation!
R
Hello, Another great blog. As I began to read it, I was brought back to what you shared on Sunday in Class. It is ironic that what you are writing is coming full circle in our class. Thank you again for the great insight and knowledge that you are willing to share with others.