7-22-2019

Good Morning All,

       Genesis 1:26; “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

    It starts out as a question that gets asked often; why did (or does) God…?  The most frequent, of course, is why does God allow evil?  Or, why allow suffering?  If the person who asks is sincere and not just looking for a fight or a Facebook moment, I usually ask a little deeper.  Why did God create you?  Initially, the first person is a little shocked and taken back because this usually gets to the heart of the issue right away but from an angle that the person did not expect.  Why did God create man, the animals, the trees, the earth or any part of creation?  Certainly, God doesn’t need any of this; God is a complete and total being.  He has no needs.  You and I have needs.  We need food, water, air, shelter, companionship and a whole list of other things but God does not need anything, so why did He create anything.

    One of the reasons this hits home so much is that it takes us, as humans, off of a pedestal that we have placed ourselves on.  We as humans tend to think that this world would not survive without us.  We tend to think that, without us, God could not have gotten everything done.  We have this complex that values our contribution far more highly than it really is.  Talk to anyone who has been involved in something for many years.  It might be the coach who has coached for 30 years, or the guy who was mayor for 20 years or the preacher who served his church for 25 years; ask any of them.  When they leave the position, someone else takes over and everything keeps going along.  It might be different but it continues and soon the mark of that individual lessens and soon fades.  We are not needed by God; if anyone of us was not here tomorrow; there would still be a tomorrow.  We are not needed by God but we have something of greater value; we are wanted by God.

    God created man, and everything, simply because he wanted to create it.  We were created by a loving God who desired to bring us into existence, to be a companion for him.  This is why he tells us in Scriptures, I don’t need a thousand sacrifices; I desire your love.  God is completely self-sufficient but loves us because he wants to love us.  His compassion, his mercy, his love is directed at us because of the purest and greatest form of love that exists.  God wants you simply because he loves you and that will never change.  That is why God sent Jesus to take our place and to pay our debt; because he wanted to because he loves you.  We don’t have to worry about being obsolete or worthless in the eyes of the world because our loving God has deemed us worthy by his grace.  The God of love created you for one reason and that is to love you.

Father, your amazing mercy reveals itself to us in so many ways that we cannot begin to know them.  Keep us ever mindful of your great love and mercy.  Defend us from the devil and his wiles.  Keep us ever focused on you.  In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret