Knowing Jesus

Why am I here? Is there a purpose to life? Questions we all need to ask. I think I have often ignored these questions as being too mystical or only for those whose lives are messed up or without direction.

But until we can honestly address this question in our own life, I fear that we as Christians risk stumbling through this life being motivated by the latest fad, cause or calling (Christian or otherwise) that comes our way. For the unsaved, they arrive at the end of their days on this earth having accomplished great things or accomplishing little, but still missing the real purpose for their existence, and thus going into eternity suffering the greatest loss imaginable - eternally suffering the absolute absence of Love.

To discover the answer to these questions requires we consider the reason that God created man in the first place. Before we get too far, let us remember that God is infinite and cannot be totally comprehended by the finite creatures that we are. As I’ve stared at the scriptures and asked the Holy Spirit to reveal the deep things, the mysteries of God’s heart to me, I’ve begun to see a picture emerge. My understanding is imperfect, certainly not complete, for we see the things of eternity as though we were peering in a poorly reflecting mirror. But still I peer into this reflection to encounter our God as He would reveal Himself.

One of the places that I see His heart is in the prayer of Jesus as recorded in John 17. Jesus pours out His heart to the Father in intercession for us. In this dialogue He reveals the intimacy that He and the Father knew throughout eternity past, the intimacy they knew while He was on the earth and the intimacy He was returning to. He also reveals His great desire that we be with Him in this eternal intimacy, even experiencing it to a degree here on earth. He even defines eternal life in terms of relationship with the Father and the Son. He also continually asks that we come into the same oneness that He and the Father have (v11, 21f).

We were created to fellowship with God. We weren't simply some divine experiment or evolutionary accident. From within the communion of the ONE (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) came forth the desire for broadening this fellowship. God is love and love by its definition is relational. The love within the Trinity would not simply be contained within that realm, but overflowed beyond the borders of this divine circle.

Though surrounded by perfection and beauty within the heavenly realm, God did not create the angels and heavenly creatures for sharing in the deep fellowship experienced within the Trinity. These heavenly servants were created for their specific roles and given the capacity to fulfill these roles. They were not created to share in this Divine Fellowship. Certainly His love touches those who serve Him in the heavenly realms, but they are not invited into the inner circle of God. They were created to serve in obedience, stand at a distance, some closer than others, and gaze in awe upon His beauty.

I see in the heart of God, an unquenchable desire for intimacy. At the perfect time, the desire of God was put into action by the creation of mankind with the physical realm. In God's unchallengeable wisdom, He chose to create man, male and female, for the purpose of walking with God, experiencing an intimacy and fulfillment that can only be met in the mutual experience of divine love. He created man with the longing for intimacy, even bringing male and female together as a demonstration of it in the natural realm.

His desire for people who love Him would require that this love be voluntary. Love is a choice and must be voluntary for it to be genuine. God had myriads of angels who served Him in obedience. But mankind was different - created for a little while lower than the angels; we were created to know Him, to be voluntary lovers of God and ultimately invited into the inner circle of heaven. To be sure, we will never be God for we will always be finite, but we were created with an implanted invitation to enjoy sweet fellowship with God now and throughout eternity.

In eternity past, the passionate fire within God’s heart erupted and so He thought of you. Ephesians 1 tells us that He chose you before the foundations of the world. In His perfect wisdom, He determined that He would create you, a physical creature embodying a living soul and spirit. In His perfect foreknowledge, He created you, frail and finite, yet set apart from the rest of creation because He placed within you the capacity to respond to Him in love. In His image, He created you with a similar longing for intimacy. Though we too often seek to fill that longing with things of this world, He is the ultimate fulfillment of this desire as you are the fulfillment of His desire.

Why are you here? What is your purpose in life? What greater purpose than to love God and enjoy real fellowship with Him, the Father, the Son and His Spirit?