May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works. – Psalm 104:31 (NIV)
A three-year-old recently asked his mom, “Why did God make people?” How should this loving mom answer her son? Why exactly did God make people? Let’s explore the answers and then put them into toddler terms.
Adult Discussion:
God is self-existent. He is the great “I Am.” God was not created by anyone, but rather He created all things out of nothing by His Word (Exodus 3:14; Psalm 33:6,9; Hebrews 11:3). He is eternal and self-sustaining, never growing tired or weary and of infinite understanding. (Isaiah 40:28) When we combine the thought of His eternality with the statement “God is love,” we realize He must have been love always – even in eternity past (1 John 4:8). He certainly was and is love! Because He is triune (1 Peter 1:2), we realize that Father, Son, and Spirit have been in perfect relationship – loving one another always.
When we combine the information above, we discern a few things we can rightfully say to a child about God. We want to be careful not to minimize God by giving children wrong answers. Let’s begin the children’s discussion with the first two points of four:
Children’s Discussion:
1) God did not create us because He was lonely. The Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit have loved one another forever. God was never alone because He is three persons in One! The Father and Son and Spirit could always talk and be together.
2) God did not create us because He needed us. God does not need anything or anyone. We are the ones who need Him for everything! We would not even be able to breathe if God wasn’t causing our bodies to work (Acts 17:25). God does not need sleep or vitamins or food or anything. He made everything, but no one made Him! He is always strong enough to hold the whole world together and He never even gets tired.
Adult Discussion:
God’s creation brings Him glory. It is right that the holy, self-existent God of the universe be magnified and shown for who He truly is. Psalm 19:1 (NIV) tells us, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” The grandeur of creation gives us hints of God’s greatness. How much more, then, do human beings show God’s greatness? For, Psalm 8:5-6 (NIV) proclaims of man “You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet.” We, as humans, are placed over creation. Therefore, we sound forth by our existence the glory of God even more than other created things. We are made in God’s own image. Colossians 1:16 affirms that absolutely everything was made by Jesus and for Jesus. Our purpose is wrapped up in Him. Very clearly, Psalm 104:1-30 (NIV) declares the greatness of many facets of God’s creation and then culminates with the statement in verse 31, “May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works.” We see again here that God’s creation is for His glorification, and He rejoices in what He has made.
Children’s Discussion:
3) Even though we think a lot about ourselves because we are sinners, the world and people are supposed to make us think about God. He is the only One powerful enough to make everything, and He deserves to be thought about. A cute little ladybug should make us think about Jesus and all the neat things He makes! The stars at night should make us think about God and how He is so big and how He is everywhere! Just like ladybugs and stars should make people think about Jesus, our life should make people think about God, too! We were made to point people to how awesome God is!
Adult Discussion:
Revelation 21:1-7 (NIV) shows us what is God’s final plan for both the cosmos and human beings. Having come the first time to earth to stand in our place and pay the price for our sin, Jesus will return to earth a second time to finally and completely remake the world as He intended it before we willfully rebelled against His plan. These verses amazingly reveal to us the heart of God. We are able to see what God desires once our sin and its effects are totally removed from the picture. What God always wanted is spelled out clearly in verses 3-5: “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!'” We realize here what we lost after the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. We lost our true, unbroken walk with God Almighty. Though we can currently have relationship with Him through Jesus, and His Spirit comes to live in us; there is a day coming when God the Father will “set up shop” right with us! With no fear, regret, or sorrow, we shall walk unhindered with God – always in His incomparable presence!
Children’s Discussion:
4) God made us so that we could have Him as our very best friend! He knows we are the most happy when we are very, very close to Him. On this old Earth, people do not love Jesus like they should. We forget about God too much. We are selfish. But in the New Heavens and New Earth, God will take away sin and all the sad things. No one will want to be apart from Jesus. He will be closer to us than ever, and that is why everyone will be happy forever! No one will get hurt or fight or be sad. Since this is what God wants to happen – and since He will make it happen one day – we should try to make Him our best friend now. He made us to feel right and happy when we walk very close with Him.
