I sat in the food court at the local mall yesterday, wolfing down a wonderful grilled chicken sandwich from Wendy’s, and contemplating certain theological matters. I was alone, and when left to my own devices I have a tendency to think in that direction. I thought it would be good to share with you the thoughts that I was having, since I usually forget to write them down. So here goes.
Why did God create us? He didn’t do so out of loneliness or any lack of His own. Our existence does not “complete” God in any way. And even as He created us for His glory, He is no more glorious for having created us and would be no less glorious if He hadn’t. This is not only true regarding the creation of mankind, but for all of creation.
God would be content without us. Think about that for just a second. This means that God doesn’t need you for anything. So why are we here?
We were created to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. He created us so that we might joyfully reflect His glory upon all of creation. So while we exist to extol the virtues of God, our praise does not create the attributes of God, but rather it celebrates who He is. Much like the person who visits the Grand Canyon does not make it any more magnificent by their enjoyment. And even then, their own enjoyment would be incomplete if they were prevented from responding to it with praise.
So God created us for His glory that is properly responded to with our enjoyment of Him, and our enjoyment is incomplete until we express it.
There are aspects to God’s glory that never would have been revealed had He not created us. In the garden, God presented Himself to Adam as creator and provider. He empowered Adam to act as His regent among all of creation to subdue it and bring order wherever he would find chaos. And when Adam failed, God was able to reveal other aspects of Himself that would never have come through. His mercy, His justice, His love for the undeserving. All of that made possible because of the sin of mankind.
So God created man in His image, not because of any shortcomings or anything like that. But we were created that the glory of God would be enjoyed and celebrated. And God did this out of His love for us. John 3:16 explains the reason why God sent Jesus. He expressed His love to us by sending His only son to die. Had mankind not been created and had we not fallen, God’s love for us would have never been revealed to this degree.
God is in the business of revealing Himself to us. We need to be in the business of enjoying Him and praising His revelations.
Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
(Revelation 5:11-12 ESV)
Right about then, my sandwich, fries and Arnold Palmer iced tea were finished, the food court was busy and it was time for me to head to a painting party for a family at church. I may pick up where I left off here, but I’m pretty sure I would need another chicken sandwich to get going again.
