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Monday: Why Did God Create Us?

The living room looked like a tornado had passed through it in the best possible way. Sleeping bags covered every inch of the floor, popcorn bowls were still out from the movie, because Ben and Beth Christian had each invited four friends, and John and Jane had survived the evening. Now it was devotion time. Jane settled onto the couch with her Bible while John turned off the background noise. One of Beth’s friends, a girl named Lily, raised her hand right away. “I have a question. My teacher said God created people because He was lonely. Is that true?” A few kids nodded. Ben wrinkled his nose. “Would God really get lonely?” Another boy said maybe God just wanted someone to talk to. John smiled. “Those are great guesses — and a lot of grownups would say the same thing. But the Bible tells us something far more wonderful.”

He opened to Acts 17. “Paul said God does not need anything from us — not company, not conversation, nothing. He was already complete.” “Then why did He make us?” Lily asked. “Because He wanted to share His love with us,” Jane said. “God was never alone to begin with. Before He created anything, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit already existed together in perfect love, joy, and fellowship. And when He created us, that was His purpose — to open that fellowship up and bring us into it.”

What Scripture Says:

Acts 17:24–25 — “God that made the world and all things therein…Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.” Paul wanted people to understand that God was whole, complete, and lacking nothing when He created you. That means you were never an afterthought or a solution to a problem. He chose to create you from a place of fullness and love. The God of the universe did not need you, and He made you anyway because He wanted to give you something only He could give.

John 17:21 — “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.” Jesus prayed this on the night before the cross and He was praying for you. He asked that you would share in the same unity and love that He and the Father have always known. Before the world began the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit existed in perfect fellowship together and that is exactly what God wanted for you.

How does it feel knowing that the love God wants to share with you is the same love that exists within the Trinity itself?

 

Tuesday: Questions About Jesus

John and Jane had made it a habit to close each sleepover with a devotion, and the kids had come to expect it. They had just finished talking about why God created us — not out of loneliness or need, but to share the love and fellowship of the Trinity with us. Now Ben spoke up. “So if the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all together before creation, was Jesus already Jesus? Like, did He always exist or did He start at Christmas?” John nodded. “The Gospel goes back before creation and tells us the Word (which is Jesus) already existed with God. And He was God.” Lily frowned. “So Christmas was not when Jesus started?” “Christmas was when He entered the world as a man,” Jane said. “But He has always existed.” “And not just existed,” John said. “Colossians tells us everything was created by Him and for Him.”

What Scripture Says:

John 1:1, 14 — “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” John takes us back before Genesis to show that Jesus did not begin at Bethlehem. He was already there in eternity past, in perfect relationship with the Father, sharing in that love and fellowship that existed before anything was made. The same Jesus who was with God before creation put on human flesh and walked into your world because sharing His life with you was always the plan.

Colossians 1:16–17 — “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible…all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” Paul tells us that everything was created by Jesus and for Jesus — and that right now He is holding everything together. That includes you. The same Jesus who spoke the universe into existence is personally sustaining your life at this moment. You are someone He is actively holding, moment by moment, because bringing you into His life was always what He was working toward.

Genesis 1:2 — “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” The same Spirit who shared in the eternal fellowship of the Trinity is in you right now. Every member of the Trinity — Father, Son, and Spirit — was involved in creating you and every one of them is involved in your life today. You are loved and held by all of God.

How does it change the way you go through your day knowing that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all personally involved in your life right now?

 

Wednesday: Adoption

At the sleepover, John and Jane knew they really had the kids attention for devotions. Jane was ready to bring up the next part and Lily gave her the opening. “So God made us to share His love with us — but what does that look like?” Jane smiled. “That is where it gets really personal. God did not just create us — He wanted to place us into His family. The Bible uses the word adoption.” “Like when kids get adopted?” Ben asked. “Close,” John said. “Let’s think about what adoption means. A family makes a choice to bring someone into their family. That is what God did — and Ephesians tells us He decided to do it before the world even existed. His goal was never just to put people on earth. He wanted us to share in the life, love, and fellowship that the Father and Son have always had together.”

What Scripture Says:

Ephesians 1:4–5 — “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” God chose you before He created you because He wanted you in His family sharing His life. That means when you talk to Him today you are talking to a Father who wanted you before you existed. You do not have to earn your way into that conversation. You already belong there.

Galatians 4:4–5 — “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” God sent His Son so that you could live as His child — close to Him, known by Him, loved by Him the way the Father loves the Son. That is the relationship Jesus purchased for you. Not just forgiveness but access to the Fatherevery moment of every day.

1 John 3:1 — “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” You are His child right now. When you wake up tomorrow and face whatever is in front of you, you are facing it as someone whose Fatherchose them before creation, brought them in at great cost, and wants to share every moment of that day with you.

How does going through your day as God’s child — someone He chose, someone He is close to — change the way you include Him in it?

Thursday: John Explains The Tabernacle

Meanwhile, at the sleepover, the kids were still engaged and John and Jane were glad to keep going. They asked some more questions and John though of something he wanted to share. “I want to show you something in the Old Testament that some people read right past. God gave Moses incredibly detailed instructions for building a tabernacle — a tent. Most people read all those chapters about curtains and measurements and move on quickly. But look at what God actually said about why He wanted it built.”  He had them build it because He would dwell with them in the desert. They would have God right there with them all the time.

What Scripture Says:

Exodus 25:8 — “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.”Stop and read that slowly. God said build me a place so I can dwell among you. This is the same God who purposed before creation to share His life with you. He chose to live with them and share life with them.

Exodus 40:34 — “Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” When they finished building it God moved in. Think about what that means. God came and set up residence in the middle of their camp. They woke up every morning with God as their neighbor. They cooked their meals, raised their children, and lived their daily lives with His presence visible in the center of everything. That is exactly what God wants with you —your everyday life, your daily routine, the ordinary moments. He purposed before creation to share all of it with you.

Revelation 21:3 — “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” When John describes the new heaven and earth he uses the word tabernacle. What He began in the wilderness with Moses He completes at the end of history fully and permanently. The tabernacle in the desert was a preview of where the whole story was heading. And you are in that story. The God who moved into the middle of Israel’s camp, who purposed before creation to share His life with you, who sent His Son to make you His child — that same God is moving toward a day when He will dwell with you completely and forever with nothing in between. That is where your life is headed. That is what you have to look forward to.

When you read passages in the Bible that feel distant or hard to connect with, how does knowing that God is always moving toward the same goal help you see what He is doing?

 

Friday: John and Jane Give One Last Lesson for the Kids

The next morning John and Jane had pancakes on the table before the kids were fully awake. The smell of bacon had done most of the work of getting everyone up and moving. When they had all settled in, Jane looked said. “Before everyone goes home, I want to leave you with one thing to think about.” The table got quiet. “We talked about how God created us to share His life with us. How He moved into the middle of Israel’s camp and was their neighbor. How the whole Bible is moving toward the day when He dwells with us fully and forever. But here is what I want you to know — you do not have to wait for that day. He is already with you. Right now. And He is waiting for you to share your life with Him.”

What Scripture Says:

1 Corinthians 6:19 — “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” The tabernacle was where God chose to dwell among His people. You are that now. The same God who filled that tent with His glory lives in you. That means every moment of your day — your drive to work, your conversations, your worries, your joys — He is already there for all of it. He is with you in the middle of your ordinary life the same way He was with Israel in the middle of their camp.

Philippians 4:6 — “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Paul says in everything. That is God’s invitation to share your whole life with Him — what you are feeling, what you are facing, what you need, what you are grateful for. He purposed before creation to share His life with you and He means all of it. Talk to Him in the car. Thank Him over your lunch. Tell Him what is worrying you. That is what sharing life with God looks like.

John 15:4 — “Abide in me, and I in you.” Jesus said abide — stay, remain, make your home in me the way I have made my home in you. This is the life God purposed before creation finally lived out in the everyday. You do not have to manufacture a feeling or wait for a special moment. He is already there. The only question is whether you will include Him in it.

What is one moment today where you will stop and share it with God — not a prayer request but just an everyday moment, the way you would with someone who is right there with you?