Do you ever pause for a few minutes and think about the fact that you were, and are, wanted and not needed? I’m not talking about your parents wanting a child or you and your spouse finding one another … I’m talking about God.
Mark Twain supposedly said, “The good Lord didn’t create anything without a purpose, but the fly comes close.”
I might add a few things to the list. Mosquitos. Humidity. This heat wave we’re currently enduring.
Some days, if I’m being completely honest, I might even nominate myself.
But beneath the humor is a profound question: Why did God create us in the first place? We’re stubborn. We aren’t good at obeying or following. We get angry. We’re just so … human.
God certainly didn’t need us. God wasn’t lonely. God wasn’t bored. God wasn’t sitting around heaven one day thinking, “You know what would make this whole existence thing better? People.”
Yet here we are.
Our existence isn’t about filling some deficiency in God. God didn’t make us for entertainment or to fill any need. God wanted us for a much deeper reason, and it has to be with love. Love that has no boundaries; love that overflows. Love that can’t be contained, but has to share itself.
John writes, “We love because he (God) first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Before we ever loved God, God loved us. Before we ever thought about God, God was already thinking about us. Before we ever reached for God, God was reaching toward us.
God didn’t need us. God wanted us. That distinction changes everything.
We aren’t divine necessities. We are divine gifts. Creation itself is an expression of God’s generosity, and humanity bears a unique calling within it—to know God, to love God, to love one another, and to participate in God’s work of making the world more like the kingdom Jesus proclaimed.
And perhaps that is why some days we wonder about ourselves.
God looks at us and sees possibility where we often see problems. God sees beloved children where we see a collection of questionable decisions. God sees people capable of grace, kindness, courage, forgiveness, and love, even when we’re swatting mosquitoes and complaining about the weather.
So today or any day, when you wonder why God made you or why you matter, remember this: God didn’t make you because God needed you. God made you because God wanted you.
Love wanted you here. And that’s a pretty wonderful reason to get out of bed—even if it’s already too hot to do so.
Prayer: God, thank you for creating me—not because you needed me, but because you wanted me. Help us live today knowing I am deeply loved. When I get discouraged, remind me that you see more in me than I see in myself. Amen.
