Why Did God Create Each of Us?
Human beings are needy. In addition to physical requirements such as food, rest, and shelter, we need affection, touch, affirmation, and encouragement. It has long been understood that babies need to be touched and held. The touch of parents is crucial for the healthy development of a baby. God has designed us, from our earliest moments, so that we cannot do without others. Humans are needy, and that does not change throughout our lives. We always need many things and will until the day we die. This puts us in a relationship of dependence with God and others.
Is God needy? No. God has no need of anyone or anything beyond himself. Someone might object that surely God gets lonely. If God has personhood as we do, which Christianity affirms, surely God must need companionship just as we do. The difference between God and us is that God has relationship within himself. The Trinity is what enables God never to be lonely. He does not lack relationship because there is a deep and ongoing relationship of love among the Father, Son, and Spirit. This means that God did not create the world because he was lonely. God is completely sufficient, fulfilled, and whole in himself.
Why then did God create the world? It was an act of sheer and absolute grace. God created the world in order to share his love—the love of the Trinity—with his creation. He created the world for his own glory and to bring creation into the wonder, beauty, and fellowship of his love. Creation was not an act of weakness on God’s part, in order to fulfill an unmet need, but an act of strength, grace, and power.
Is God’s act of creation ongoing or did it conclude on the sixth day of creation? Christianity affirms that God continues to create: in the world, among nations, in the hearts of his people, and in the life of the church. The scriptures say that anyone who is in Christ is a “new creation” (II Corinthians 5:17). This act of creation is the work of the Spirit in the human heart. Jesus affirmed the ongoing activity of God in the world when he said, “My Father is working until now, and I am working” (John 5:17).
The ongoing creative activity of God is called his “Providence.” God exercises his sovereignty over the world by caring for the world and us. This means that our lives are not governed by chance but by the fatherly care of God. For that reason, we should be patient in trouble, grateful in abundance, and firm to trust God in all things. Even when bad things happen, we should trust God’s goodness because he loves us and promises to work all things for our good. Why does God care for us and the world? In his providence, God maintains the existence of the world and all living creatures for the sake of His own glory.