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Why God Created Us
The Bible says that God created us for his “glory” (Isaiah 43:7). Let’s consider two different interpretations of what this means:
1) God created us to glorify Himself
2) God created us so that there would be living beings to see His glory and enjoy Him
I believe that both of these interpretations are true. First, the Bible is clear that God is very passionate about His glory. In Isaiah 42:8, the Lord says, “I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.” In Exodus 14:4, the Lord says, “I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” Thus, it seems very reasonable to believe that God created man to glorify Himself. This statement itself could also have a twofold meaning – God’s glory was displayed by creating us and we were created so that we would live lives that glorify our Creator.
I believe that the second interpretation of Isaiah 43:7 is also true because God would be more glorified if there are other living beings to see, experience, and rejoice in His glory than if He merely enjoyed His glory by Himself. For example, imagine a great piano player who is only permitted to play for himself. The piano player would be much more glorified if there are many others to experience and delight in his abilities than if he simply enjoyed his piano playing alone. This idea of God wanting others to see and enjoy His glory is not foreign to scripture. In John Ch. 11, Jesus allowed Lazarus to temporarily die so that his disciples would see the glory of God after Jesus raised him from the dead (John 11:4, 15, 40). In John 17:24, Jesus told the Father, “I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory.”
Conclusion: If God created us to glorify Himself and to see and rejoice in His glory, then these must be our chief pursuits in life.
Applications
Being created for the purpose of glorifying God and seeing and delighting in His glory has many applications. Here are a few of these:
Missions/Evangelism
If God is more glorified when there are others to see and delight in His glory, then we can glorify Him more by putting a telescope to the world’s eyes so that they can also see His glory and delight in Him. Moreover, we can fulfill our chief purpose and satisfaction (glorifying God and enjoying Him) by getting as many people as possible to see His glory and rejoice in Him. By accomplishing this, God will be maximally glorified by us, and we will be the most satisfied in Him.
Note: This does not mean that God would be most glorified if everyone went to Heaven and nobody went to Hell.
Idolatry
Because God created us to glorify Himself and to see and delight in His glory, it is absolutely abhorrent to God when His creation finds more joy or satisfaction in something other than Himself. This is why God hates idolatry so much, whether it’s people creating and worshipping false gods (e.g. Buddha, Allah) or people delighting in symbolic gods (e.g. money, sex). Every form of idolatry is complete blasphemy, because we are pushing aside or even rejecting our Creator for other non-God things. Idolatry is absolute rebellion against the very purpose behind our existence.
Stuff
One question to consider is “Why did God create non-human things?” Here is what I believe to be the answer to this question: If God’s chief pursuit is to glorify Himself, then He must have created “stuff” to glorify Himself, rather than “trip us up” (unless this glorified Him most). In other words, the purpose of stuff is for us to experience and rejoice in God through it. However, we must be very careful that stuff only brings us pleasure when this pleasure is a rejoicing in God and not pleasure in the stuff itself. St. Augustine said, “He loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for Thy sake.”
One important thing to consider about stuff is whether it truly points us to God and leads us to rejoice in Him, or whether it serves more as a distraction from seeing and delighting in our Creator. It seems that many things (perhaps even most) serve more as distractions from God than objects that we can use to experience God through, particularly man-made things. For example, godless television shows do not point us to God, but rather distract us from thinking about God and seeing Him. We should pursue things that truly facilitate our ability to see God and enjoy His glory. We should not seek to pursue and enjoy as many created things as possible under the guise of experiencing God through them. Additionally, we must be aware of our innate tendency to commit idolatry, so we should be very careful in our interactions with the things of this world. Finally, we should choose to pursue activities that best help us to see and enjoy God, rather than settling for things that give us less of our glorious Maker.
Why Maximum Satisfaction in God Glorifies Him Most
If God is glorified when his creation experiences joy in Him, then does this mean we should seek to maximize our joy in God? Let’s consider the piano player example from before. Would the piano player be more glorified if there was only light clapping after his performance, or would he be more glorified if his audience experienced extreme joy through his music and gave him a standing ovation? Now granted, if his music was not very good, people should not feel compelled to deceive themselves and greatly rejoice in his playing. But, if his musical performance was outstanding, then he would be most glorified if his audience exhibited responses that appropriately honored his abilities. Thus, because God is infinitely glorious, He is most glorified in us when our level of happiness and satisfaction in Him best reflects His supreme beauty! Moreover, experiencing the highest level of joy in God not only best matches and displays His infinite worth, it makes us completely satisfied in Him alone so that we are not tempted to pursue alternate sources of satisfaction that take glory away from God.
Note: Many of the ideas displayed in this article come from Pastor John Piper
The Bible says that God created us for his “glory” (Isaiah 43:7). Let’s consider two different interpretations of what this means:
1) God created us to glorify Himself
2) God created us so that there would be living beings to see His glory and enjoy Him
I believe that both of these interpretations are true. First, the Bible is clear that God is very passionate about His glory. In Isaiah 42:8, the Lord says, “I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.” In Exodus 14:4, the Lord says, “I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” Thus, it seems very reasonable to believe that God created man to glorify Himself. This statement itself could also have a twofold meaning – God’s glory was displayed by creating us and we were created so that we would live lives that glorify our Creator.
I believe that the second interpretation of Isaiah 43:7 is also true because God would be more glorified if there are other living beings to see, experience, and rejoice in His glory than if He merely enjoyed His glory by Himself. For example, imagine a great piano player who is only permitted to play for himself. The piano player would be much more glorified if there are many others to experience and delight in his abilities than if he simply enjoyed his piano playing alone. This idea of God wanting others to see and enjoy His glory is not foreign to scripture. In John Ch. 11, Jesus allowed Lazarus to temporarily die so that his disciples would see the glory of God after Jesus raised him from the dead (John 11:4, 15, 40). In John 17:24, Jesus told the Father, “I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory.”
Conclusion: If God created us to glorify Himself and to see and rejoice in His glory, then these must be our chief pursuits in life.
Applications
Being created for the purpose of glorifying God and seeing and delighting in His glory has many applications. Here are a few of these:
Missions/Evangelism
If God is more glorified when there are others to see and delight in His glory, then we can glorify Him more by putting a telescope to the world’s eyes so that they can also see His glory and delight in Him. Moreover, we can fulfill our chief purpose and satisfaction (glorifying God and enjoying Him) by getting as many people as possible to see His glory and rejoice in Him. By accomplishing this, God will be maximally glorified by us, and we will be the most satisfied in Him.
Note: This does not mean that God would be most glorified if everyone went to Heaven and nobody went to Hell.
Idolatry
Because God created us to glorify Himself and to see and delight in His glory, it is absolutely abhorrent to God when His creation finds more joy or satisfaction in something other than Himself. This is why God hates idolatry so much, whether it’s people creating and worshipping false gods (e.g. Buddha, Allah) or people delighting in symbolic gods (e.g. money, sex). Every form of idolatry is complete blasphemy, because we are pushing aside or even rejecting our Creator for other non-God things. Idolatry is absolute rebellion against the very purpose behind our existence.
Stuff
One question to consider is “Why did God create non-human things?” Here is what I believe to be the answer to this question: If God’s chief pursuit is to glorify Himself, then He must have created “stuff” to glorify Himself, rather than “trip us up” (unless this glorified Him most). In other words, the purpose of stuff is for us to experience and rejoice in God through it. However, we must be very careful that stuff only brings us pleasure when this pleasure is a rejoicing in God and not pleasure in the stuff itself. St. Augustine said, “He loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for Thy sake.”
One important thing to consider about stuff is whether it truly points us to God and leads us to rejoice in Him, or whether it serves more as a distraction from seeing and delighting in our Creator. It seems that many things (perhaps even most) serve more as distractions from God than objects that we can use to experience God through, particularly man-made things. For example, godless television shows do not point us to God, but rather distract us from thinking about God and seeing Him. We should pursue things that truly facilitate our ability to see God and enjoy His glory. We should not seek to pursue and enjoy as many created things as possible under the guise of experiencing God through them. Additionally, we must be aware of our innate tendency to commit idolatry, so we should be very careful in our interactions with the things of this world. Finally, we should choose to pursue activities that best help us to see and enjoy God, rather than settling for things that give us less of our glorious Maker.
Why Maximum Satisfaction in God Glorifies Him Most
If God is glorified when his creation experiences joy in Him, then does this mean we should seek to maximize our joy in God? Let’s consider the piano player example from before. Would the piano player be more glorified if there was only light clapping after his performance, or would he be more glorified if his audience experienced extreme joy through his music and gave him a standing ovation? Now granted, if his music was not very good, people should not feel compelled to deceive themselves and greatly rejoice in his playing. But, if his musical performance was outstanding, then he would be most glorified if his audience exhibited responses that appropriately honored his abilities. Thus, because God is infinitely glorious, He is most glorified in us when our level of happiness and satisfaction in Him best reflects His supreme beauty! Moreover, experiencing the highest level of joy in God not only best matches and displays His infinite worth, it makes us completely satisfied in Him alone so that we are not tempted to pursue alternate sources of satisfaction that take glory away from God.
Note: Many of the ideas displayed in this article come from Pastor John Piper
