In our last installment, we talked about how to embrace your identity by understanding the fullness of God’s marvelous, unfailing love.
We know that God has a specific purpose for you that is uniquely your own; however, today we’re going to answer the question “Did God have even more in mind for each of us?” Let’s look at Proverbs 3:5-10 (HCSB)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own understanding;
6 think about Him in all your ways,
and He will guide you on the right paths.
7 Don’t consider yourself to be wise;
fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 This will be healing for your body
and strengthening for your bones.
9 Honor the Lord with your possessions
and with the first produce of your entire harvest;
10 then your barns will be completely filled,
and your vats will overflow with new wine.
Turn your attention to verse 9. Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest…Proverbs 3:9 (HCSB)
I image that God loves firsts. Why?
Because He talks about honoring Him with our first fruits.
Let’s look at a few more firsts…
- He encourages the church in Ephesus (and us) to go back to our love in Revelation 2:4.
- In 1 John 4:19, He tells us we love because he first loved us.
- And Colossians 1:15 (GNT) says, Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the first-born Son, superior to all created things.
I’m sure that you can name many other firsts in the Bible as well.
Now, I’d like to explore the reasons why He first created you, but before we do that I want to explain why?
There’s a lot of information and misinformation in the world, a lot of facts and a lot of opinions. Many lay people and many so-called experts, and everyone in between. So, who do you listen to? And when we do listen, what standard of measure are we using.
Not too long ago I was doing a home school Bible lesson with my daughter, and the author wrote something like this:
Unless a person studies what God says about a subject, he or she will never know the full truth on the matter.
If you talked to me a few weeks ago and asked me, “Why did God make us!” I would say, “Ughhh…to love Him, to glorify Him, to worship Him…
And I’d say it all with that look in my eyes. You know the one that says, I should be able to answer this in more depth, but you know…
So, with that let’s explore why God first created us. In my quest to not say, “Ughhh” when asked this question I discovered at least 100 reasons why God created us.
Here’s a more than few…
- For His glory (Isaiah 43:7)
- To allow us to have dominion (Genesis 1:26
- That we might declare His praise (Isaiah 43:1)
- For good works (Ephesians 2:10)
- So that God would be made known (Ephesians 3:9-10)
- To be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28)
- To fear God and keep his commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
- To serve Him faithfully (1 Samuel 12:24)
- To be called friends (John 15:14-15)
- To love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and might (Deuteronomy 6:5)
- To reflect His image (Genesis 9:6)
- To be fellow-heirs (Ephesians 3:6)
- To seek his presence continually (1 Chronicles 16:11)
- To worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24)
- To love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:39)
- To have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10)
- To seek first the kingdom and his righteousness (Matthew 6:33)
- And to bear much fruit (John 15:8)
There’s so much more. If you can think of any other reasons, please share them in the comments.
Keeping first things first, now that’s the point of purpose…see you next time for part 5.
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