09/09/2026
Who are we, and what was it that God created us to accomplish? We have always asked ourselves why we were created, and what purpose we were meant to serve. There is no real answer to these two questions outside of our faith, and the Word of God, so what can be found there?
“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." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Genesis 1:26-27 ESV
The answer to who we are is fairly straight forward in God’s Word; we are reflections, or images of Him. I think about one of the amazing things that exceptionally creative people do... authors always write about themselves at some point. We call this writing in the first person, and it is in this tense that the writer becomes one with whatever he is writing. Great artists are no different, they can’t resist painting themselves at some point in their lives. All those who are creative, or ever create, look in the mirror and define who they are by creating an image of themselves... do we think that desire comes to us by accident? No, it is within us because it is part and parcel of who God is. So, the answer to the question “Who am I?” is very straight forward and simple... I am an image of God.
The question of why we were created, or the purpose we are meant to serve, is the second of the “big two” questions that man has sought to answer since creation itself. This is one of those questions in which we interject our ego and pride when deriving the answer, so as a result, most simple answers have been rejected as trite, or incomplete. After all, in our minds we see ourselves as being so wonderfully created that we feel there must be some amazing and noble reason we were created in the first place... right? Listen as the Psalmist asks, and then answers, (at least in part) this same question...
“what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.”
Psalms 8:4-5 ESV
Well, we know that Jesus deserved glory and honor, but although He was a man, He was also God at the same time. So, what about the rest of us who were not sons and daughters of God by birth, but simply creations? We were first, and quite simply created to serve God’s will; not as slaves or robots, but by becoming one with it.
“"Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."”
Revelation 4:11 ESV
Secondly we were created for Jesus Christ! Perhaps we were a gift to Him, but we really don’t know why the Son of God would desire us. We are further perplexed by His love for us because we were so easily deceived into failing in the Garden of Eden, and we continue to give easily into sin today. Were we just a gag gift, a lump of coal or a bundle of switches at Christmas, or were we a poorly thought-out selection?
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”
Colossians 1:15-16 ESV
We were defiantly not ill conceived because upon the completion of our creation God looked at us and said we were “very good.”
So there had to be more because being created for Jesus is way too shallow an answer, and Jesus must have seen the wonderful aspects of our nature or why else would He love us as He does, and to suffer and die for us as He did? Then there is a further question; why would God love us so much that He would think us to be an appropriate gift for the Prince of Peace?
“"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 ESV
Ok, now this is a bit more like it... our egos are getting sufficiently stroked by the knowledge that Jesus was given to us! We are so absolutely great and wonderful aren’t we?... no? How is it we should say “no” when after all we are amazingly created in the image of God, He Himself said we are very good, and we only fell from grace because of one little act of disobedience? Oh yeah... we almost forgot… there is this tiny matter of sinning isn’t there.
Sin didn’t come to us like the first tiny drops of a coming rain shower... it came like a downpour. When Adam and Eve ate of the tree they didn’t just break one little rule... they disobeyed everything God had told them not to do, and they did it so that they could know what He knew. Sure, it was just one indiscretion, but then again, God had only given them one rule to obey... and they broke it. They went from being 100% obedient to 100% disobedient in a single moment... with a single bite. In that instant they broke every rule, and then knew immediately what they had done.
So here we are back where we started... God created us for Jesus, and we were broken within mere seconds of being removed from the box. So why do we exist? Certainly, God didn’t create us to fail did He? No, He created us for Jesus, and gave us Jesus as our hope and redemption as part of the ultimate puzzle; the trillion upon trillion piece puzzle that could thrill the Son of God, and bless us simultaneously. Listen to the words of Jesus when he had completed our redemption, and the puzzle was at last finished.
He said this in the Garden of Gethsemane when He spoke to His captors...
“This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: "Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one."”
John 18:9 ESV
And He said it in prayer to His Holy Father as He told Him how he had succeeded in doing His will...
“And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”
John 17:11-12 ESV
So, despite our ego, and our pride, our purpose in life is not only to love and seek God, but ultimately to be given to Jesus Christ, who glorifies God the Father by redeeming us from sin, saving us from death itself, and thus allowing us to join Himself and God in heaven for eternity... not a bad purpose! Perhaps in our fallen state we would prefer to be the knight in shining armor, the hero on the white horse, or the cavalry that shows up at the last second and saves the wagon train, but every story needs a damsel in distress, someone in need of rescue, or a wagon train full of people that is about to be lost. We all need rescue, and redemption so that as the hero rides into the sunset we can wave joyously, and live happily ever after! Our purpose is to love and be loved, to be redeemed, and reunited with our Father.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for all of creation, and specifically for forming me, breathing life into me, and placing me within the world. I thank you for your Son Jesus, and for giving us to one another as a part of your perfect will and plan. He is my Redeemer, and I am His disciple, and my body is the vessel in which we dwell together. In this complex life that I am experiencing there are many mysteries, dangers, and disappointments, but with you, Jesus, and your Holy Spirit, I walk through this valley confidently. I praise your name in the roar of the storm, and in the absolute stillness of the long periods of waiting. I trust in you Father, for you formed me in your image, and gave me to your Son to be my redeemer. We are together in this mysterious dance of life, this masterpiece of your will. Help me to understand my place in it, and to serve you perfectly within the will you have for your Son, because I know that He is in you, and you in Him. I am your image, and created to please you, and to glorify you through your Son Jesus. Great are you Father, and great is your purpose for me. Holy, Holy, Holy are you my creator, and the designer of my life. In this way I praise you now, and forevermore. Help me Lord so that I might dine at your table throughout eternity; singing psalms, and recounting your glory forevermore.
“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
Psalms 139:14-16 ESV
Amen! Amen! Amen!
Rich Forbes