WHY WERE WE CREATED?

(By:  Norm Rasmussen)

Dear one, you and I were created to enjoy God, and for God to enjoy us. (Sin entered the human race and that has greatly hindered this purpose. Jesus Christ has restored our LEGAL RIGHT for God to enjoy us, and for us to enjoy Him. Click on JESUS DID IT! link below to learn how He did that).

We were also created to glorify God -- or perhaps better stated -- Created to reflect the glory of God.   

Yet we cannot truly enjoy God nor reflect His glorify unless we purposely choose to serve God in alignment with Truth. 

In another sense, you were created to be an investor. An investor in God, and what pleases God. This is the same as serving God.

You were also created to be a lover. A lover of God. A lover of what God loves. A lover of Truth. God yearns for you to love Him. God yearns to shower you for eternity with His love as you serve Him. (Yet always seek God in how to ENJOY God daily in your serving Him. Satan does NOT want you enjoying God in your service to Him).

How do we glorify God, then? In our earnest pursuit of loving Him and being devoted to Him in accordance with Truth, we will be glorifying Him in the ways He desires we glorify Him.

What is the greatest commandment God has given humanity?

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'"  - Matthew 22:36-37

Why would you suppose God had to make it a "command" that we love Him? Because it is not natural for us to do so. Our sin nature desires to please ourselves -- not God. More about this later...

In our sincere love and devotion to God, what can we expect back from God? The privilege of enjoying Him - forever. 

Enjoying God for eternity is the same thing as eternal life. God tells us so in John 17:3 where Jesus is doing the speaking:

'And this is eternal life; that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.'  (Jesus is speaking of God the Father when he says 'the only true God' ... yet He's also speaking about Himself.  Jesus TOO is the only true God.)

Again Jesus is speaking in John 3:16: 

'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.'

Yet here is a sobering warning. Anyone trying to obtain everlasting life by refusing to identify with Jesus Christ are deceiving themselves. Anyone refusing to believe that Jesus Christ paid full penalty -- full price by dying on the cross for them and taking their punishment for their sins -- are only fooling themselves.

Once again, Jesus tells us in John 10:10: 

'I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.'

Dear reader, don't misunderstand what 'life' and 'eternal life' IS.  It isn't about living forever. It is about forever enjoying God. There's a huge difference!

For those who are in Christ Jesus, eternity is - will be - about enjoying God. Each of us were created with that solitary purpose in God's mind: To receive eternal life -- to enjoy God. In our enjoying God, through Christ Jesus, we will receive ever increasing understanding of His love for us, which will only make us desire to love Him even more and more!

And for most, this life we live right now on planet earth is our testing ground to determine whether we will be qualified to enjoy eternal life after we die, or experience eternal death. We all live forever. It's just a matter of whether we spend forever enjoying God, or not enjoying God. God gives us a choice in the matter. The choice is centered in the person of Jesus Christ and all that He stands for, and all that He has accomplished for sinners separated from the love and eternal life of God.

Here becomes the crucial test of how it will be determined as to whether we will spend eternal life enjoying God through eternity, or eternal death unable to enjoy God through eternity:

'He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.' (John 3:36)

Experiencing eternal life knowing God through eternity brings with it eternal increasing love and increasing joy. If you have ever had very strong feelings of love for someone, magnify that feeling a billion times a hundred billion times trillions, and that will give you a good idea of what it will be like through eternity enjoying God. Having feelings of love for God will know no end. Those feelings of love will only keep increasing, for all eternity, as will our comprehension of just how much God loves US keeps increasing!

As our love keeps increasing for God and as our comprehension of God's love for us keeps increasing, so will our joy keep increasing, as God's joy will keep increasing when He thinks of us, and spends time with us. 

Before a person is created by God and given a chance to be born on this planet, the love and the joy God has intended for that person throughout eternity is at the forefront of God's mind. 

Yet because God is all knowing, He also knows whether that person will eventually choose eternal life, or reject it.   

What will be the determining factor as to whether this person will experience eternal life enjoying God forever, or NOT enjoying God forever? The determining factor will be what that person chooses to BELIEVE and how that person RESPONDS to the words of Jesus Christ found in the Holy Bible. 

For a person will find in the New Testament Bible that Jesus Christ is none OTHER than one of the three persons of the eternal triune Godhead. It is clearly stated in the New Testament Bible that all things were created by Jesus Christ, for Jesus Christ, and through Jesus Christ. (You can read about this in the first chapter of the Book of Colossians, especially from verses 15-19.  If you've never heard, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are the other two persons of the eternal triune Godhead). 

Many people have a difficult time believing that God created them to love Him and glorify Him. They conclude: 'Well, if that was God's purpose for creating me and creating others, WHY is there so much pain and sorrow in my life? Why are so many little children suffering on this planet? Why is life so miserable and hard and unfair?"

The human race currently has TWO enemies that hinder them from fully enjoying God in this life: 

• Our sinful, fallen nature

• Satan and his demon servants.

1)  Because we are born with a sin nature, our fallen sinful fleshly nature desires things that are contrary to what God desires for us. In fact, our sinful nature actually delights in disobeying God a great deal of the time, if the truth be known. So each of us battle between what our fallen sinful fleshly nature wants verses what God wants, and this battle will rage until we either receive our glorified bodies, or we die and are ushered into heaven.

2)  Though we can't see them because they are spirit beings, fallen angels serving their lord, Satan, hate everything that God loves. And anyone who is trying to please God in alignment with Truth are Satan's enemies.  

God tells us in Ephesians 6:12 that our real enemy isn't people, but demonic spirits influencing those people. Though demon spirits can influence other people to bring us pain, these evil spirits can also directly exert their will on us and oppress us greatly.

The Bible clearly tells us that Satan has been allowed by God to have great influence over this planet at the present time. Between the deadly effects of sin since the time of Adam and Eve and Satan's demons seeking to control the souls of men so they will choose to reject eternal life enjoying God, this life is truly not easy for anyone.

Yet the Bible lets us also know that those who are suffering greatly as Christians will be rewarded for it in eternity, because God has decreed that the sufferings of those who are following after Jesus Christ will not be WASTED sufferings at all!

Elementary in all this is the fact that Satan and the demons who serve him know full well they will never have an opportunity to experience eternal life enjoying God ever again as they once were able to do. And because of this, their love for God has turned to dark hatred for God, and that hatred is expressed in doing everything in their power to try to persuade humans to reject the way of Jesus Christ and the Truth is and the Truth He stands for. Simply stated: Because Satan and the demons can't enjoy eternal life knowing God, they don't want anyone else being able to do so either. 

To make this life even more challenging, for those who choose to follow after Jesus Christ, these become the ones Satan and his demons hate the MOST. Followers of Jesus Christ are vessels God the Holy Spirit delights to use the most to tell others about the goodness of Jesus Christ and WHY God the Father sent Jesus to earth to die on the cross for the sins of humanity. (Sin is rebellion against God, in case you've never heard).

Thus, for Christians and for those who will become Christians, to a large degree, this life is about being TRIED (trials) which brings about SUFFERING. Satan launches attacks against them to hinder them in every way possible from being the most effective vessels they are capable of being for the cause of Jesus Christ - God the Father - God the Holy Spirit.

We're at war, dear reader, as if you weren't already aware. We're at war for the souls of mankind. The greatest of all warriors came from heaven to Earth to do battle against the demonic spirits of darkness ' spirits of eternal death. Whatever your thoughts at the present are of Jesus Christ, my hope is that you remember THIS about Him. He came from His throne in heaven to engage with the spirits of darkness to rescue YOU from eternal death, so you might enjoy eternal life with Him, enjoying God, and God enjoying you.   

His greatest demonstration of love-heroism was to die for us in battle some 2,000 years ago on the Cross. God demonstrated His love for us by dying for us and taking the punishment for our sins. By taking the punishment for our sins when He didn't have to. 

One of His greatest demonstrations of love-faithfulness will be when He comes back to Earth to rescue those who are eagerly awaiting His return. After that happens, all hell is going to break loose on this planet to deal with and eradicate evil. 

If you purpose to love and demonstrate your devotion to God, it won't always be easy ... but there is nothing worth pursuing more. That is why you were created. To be a lover. To shower God with your love and devotion. After all, He plans on showering you with his love throughout eternity. It was first clearly demonstrated at the cross, when He gave His life for you. For taking the punishment for your sins by dying in your place, when He didn't have to.

In this brief writing on a very expansive topic - loving God - I realize that most people like to hear and know that they were created to love God. But many of them don't want to hear that they must do so in accordance with Truth. 

Furthermore, I also realize that some people have been so unloved that they have no concept of what it is like to love God. So many have never received love growing up as a child. When they grew older, they may have given their love and devotion to someone, only to have that love and devotion crushed. And now ... they may have deep seated fears about ever loving anyone else, let alone God. 

At age 35, I reached out to God to accept His salvation, but my purpose after that was to try to earn God's love. I had no clue what God's unconditional love for us is all about ... let alone that it's free! I have written on how God revealed His unconditional love for me and how it transformed my relationship with Him for the better, and if you are interested, you can read about it by clicking on this link.

In loving God, He wants us passionately loving what He loves. God loves to rescue lost souls headed to hell. God loves it when we will actively enlist in His army of helping reach lost souls. Are you fully engaged in using your gifts, time and finances to help rescue lost souls? Doing so is helping build the Kingdom of God.

A time is coming for those who belong to Jesus Christ for heartache to end. Once evil has been removed from their midst, there will be no hindrances in their ability to fully enjoy God. But that time is not yet. Jesus Christ must first return for His Bride, the Body of Christ. Once His marriage to the Bride is fully consummated, it will be joy forevermore. 

Don't miss the wedding party, my friend. Get enlisted, and stay enlisted in the army of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Things are going to get rougher on this planet before Christ returns for His own. The most painful time in all of earth's history is quickly descending upon this planet. Souls will soon be tested unlike ever before. Jesus Christ is returning for a bride that has proven her love to Him by the loyalty she has demonstrated in the midst of great temptation and adversity.

Thanks for caring - lover of God.

Dear Reader - are you at peace with God?  If not, you can be. Do you know what awaits you when you die? You can have the assurance from God that heaven will be your home, if you would like to be certain. You can even have that assurance RIGHT NOW!  Either Jesus Christ died for your sins, or He didn't (He did!). Are you prepared to stand before God on the Judgment Day and tell Him that you didn't need the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross to have your sins forgiven and get in right-standing with God? We plead with you...please don't make such a tragic mistake. 

To get to know God, to be at peace with God, to have your sins forgiven, to make certain heaven will be your home for eternity, to make certain that you are in right-standing with God right now ... please click here to help you understand the importance of being reconciled to God. What you do about being reconciled to God will determine where you will spend eternity, precious one. Your decision to be reconciled to God is the most important decision you'll ever make in this life, because in Christ, it is impossible to put a value on the worth of your soul in light of eternity.

PLEASE HELP US HELP YOU SHARE THE BEST NEWS GOD HAS FOR EVERY PERSON BECAUSE...

JESUS DID IT! 

Remember:  All that we do in this life comes back to our God-given purpose which is to serve and glorify God. The money and assets we accumulate, the fame and power we've attained or seek to attain - all of the things of this nature will one day pass away, but those lives of others we impact for Jesus Christ will last for eternity, and we will be rewarded for the part we helped play by impacting those lives ... for eternity. (Matthew 6:19-20 is our assurance)