Last week we asked the questions “Who are we?” and “Why are we here?” From the first chapter of Genesis, we answered the “Who?” question. We found that we are created in the image of God and after His likeness.

Today, we are going to take a look at the “Why” question. This one doesn’t lend itself to a simple citation of a specific scripture. It requires taking a look at God and His nature and at all He has created, and then applying a bit of common sense.

If you ask 100 Christians why we are here, chances are a majority—possibly the vast majority—will say to serve God. Yes, the Bible does use the term serve God in several places, but I don’t think it means serve him in the same sense that a waiter or waitress serves a diner.

Long before God created man, He created millions, and probably billions, of angels. These angels live for no reason other than to serve God—to do His bidding. He sends them at times to save us from some disaster we’re about to bring down upon ourselves. In the Old Testament, there are numerous reports where He sent one of them to carry a message to one of His prophets.

There’s no telling what all uses God has for these angels. For all I know, He may have them to bring Him tea. The point is, they are His servants. That’s their only reason for being. He didn’t need to create a new species of being to have more servants.

He created us to fill a position the angels couldn’t fill. God is self-sufficient, and as such, He has no needs as we define the word. Yet God apparently felt something was missing, a position was vacant which no angel could fill.

God wanted a people who would voluntarily choose to fellowship with Him. The reason the angels couldn’t fill this need or desire is that they have no volition. They have no freedom of choice. This is why those angels who joined Satan’s rebellion are not redeemable. We have a right to sin, although it saddens God when we do. Because sin is within our rights, we are redeemable from that sin. The angels have no such right.

Lacking the right of free choice, no angel could decide to love God, to fellowship with Him, to worship Him—to be part of His family. Only a being with the right to free choice can volunteer to do anything. The angels do what they do because it’s their lot, not because they decide to do so.

Just as an earthly father wants a family to gather around himself, God wanted a family to gather around Himself. That’s why He created us: to be that family.

God knew when He created us that giving us freedom of choice was dangerous. He knew the nature of the being He created. He knew Adam and Eve would exercise their freedom of choice to disobey Him. And He knew that likes beget likes. Sinners beget sinners. Sin was in Adam’s nature, and it’s been in the nature of every person born of an earthly father since then.

An inerrant God doesn’t create something and then say, “Whoops.” He knew what He was doing, and He knew how He was going to provide a way for man to overcome that sin nature. We’ll get into that in future sessions. For now, the point is—the answer to the “Why” question is—God created us to fellowship with Him.

I could go into a lot of implications from that last statement, but in the interest of keeping this brief enough maybe you’ll come back, I’ll stop here. We’ll have more sessions to explore these things.

How do you feel about being created to fellowship with God—that He thinks you’re important enough that He wants your fellowship? What does this say to depression and thoughts of unworthiness?

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If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.