Free Bible study lessons for small Christian church cell groups by HFLI

[01]

V Indicates Scripture or other reference inserted at the end of this chapter.

Chapter 1 Why God made you the way He did.

And God said, “Let us make man in our image.”
Genesis 1:26a

This book is here to help you look at God, look at yourself, and make intelligent choices about your life on earth and your eternal destiny.

Why not settle the main issue right at the start: is there really a God? All the proof you’ll ever need is right in your mirror; so let’s look at one of God’s most amazing creations – you.

Consider your body – skin, skeleton, muscles, vital organs, blood system, nervous system, and how they all work together.
Consider your brain – it can remember the past, plan for the future, and master all the knowledge you need to make a living and enjoy your life.
Consider your talents – perhaps music; perhaps sports; perhaps rocket science; perhaps communication skills; perhaps the ability to organize and manage ... all those things that help make the world an interesting and exciting place to live in.
Consider your dreams – for yourself, your family, your community – so vivid that they’re real to you even when no one can appreciate them but you; and sometimes so heroic that no one but you could dare believe in them.

Consider all this, and ask yourself: Do you think it’s possible that you “just happened” by accident? Or by “evolution?” If you’d never met yourself, could you ever have imagined anyone who could do all the things you can do, and do them all so naturally? No – there is only one way that you and the rest of the human race could have come to be on this earth: God created us.

Then [1] who is this God? And [2] why did He create the human race?

The most direct answer to the first question was given by the Apostle John, a man who felt, knew, and understood the love of God in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Based on his overwhelming personal experience in the presence of Jesus, John simply said, “God is love.” (1^st John 4:8V1) Yes, God is holy. And yes, God is righteous. But even those towering attributes can mean very little to a person who does not know that he or she is loved by God. And that is why John was so eager to explain why this holy and righteous God cannot help but love people like us; because God is love!

And that leads directly to the answer to the second question: why did God create people? He created us for the same reason we humans get married, have children, and form meaningful relationships with our fellow human beings – because God wants someone to love!

But not just anyone. Just as men and women seek a husband or wife who is compatible with them ... just as parents hope their children will be a lot like them ... just as deep friendships are based on mutual trust and respect ... so God desired the people He created to spiritually like Himself. That’s why He made us the way we are. The Bible tells us that at the dawn of history,

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Genesis 1:26

The words “in our image” do not mean God has fingers and toes and eyes and ears like we have; it means we have the ability to love just as He does.

Does this means we humans are “equals with God?” No – because God created us to love Him as our Father. We are to love Him for who He is, not for what He can do for us; and we are to honor and obey Him as much as we love Him. This love and obedience, based on a knowledge and understanding of who God is, is what the Bible calls ... worship!

This God-given ability to worship is what sets people apart from dogs, cats, monkeys, fish, and every other creature in the animal kingdom. You can go anywhere in the world; you can study every culture and every social structure; and you will see that every human being worships some-body or something. Yes, God did give the animals an ability to express certain kinds of love. And yes, all animals are attracted to the opposite sex of their own species. Pets may love their masters. Some wild animals may even have family relationships. But no animal has the ability to love and worship its Creator ... just as no animal has a living soul that will survive into eternity.

If a person is blind, or lame, or homeless, or cast out by society, that person is said to be “disadvantaged” in this world. But that person can still be fulfilled in this world if he or she has a loving relationship with God. On the contrary, the person who fails to (or refuses to) worship his or her Creator ... the person who worships another person instead of God, or who worships his or her self ... will never be fulfilled or satisfied in this life. Worse than that – any person who does not choose to worship the living God while he or she is on this earth, will not be allowed to enter in to the eternal life that God has prepared in Heaven for those who love Him.

When God created a man in His image, He placed him in a paradise called the Garden of Eden. It was easy for that man to love God – after all, God had given him everything – but he could not worship his God unless he had a way to obey His commands. No commands were necessary in the middle of paradise; but, in order to make worship possible, God told the man:

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Genesis 2:16,17

One command. Obey it, just the way God gave it, and live forever. Disobey it and, just as the Scripture says, thou shalt surely die. It really couldn’t be any other way; because God created the man to live in just one way: in loving obedience to Himself.

God named the man Adam – “red” – because He hand-crafted him out of the red earth of the Garden. Later on, God gave the man a wife; and Adam named her Eve, because she was to be the mother of the entire human race. But tragically, before any of their children were born, Adam and Eve failed to obey God, and that is how sin and death came into the world.

But God still loves us. He does not want us to die. That’s why He gives each one of us the same choice He gave Adam and Eve in the Garden; and that is why He gives us an opportunity to choose between obedience unto life, or disobedience unto death. This opportunity is our life-span on this earth. One person’s life may be long, another’s may be brief; but God is faithful and just, and He will give all of us enough time on earth to make our own eternally-binding decision.

In addition to giving us this opportunity to love and obey Him on the personal level, God gave the human race an opportunity to make the most (or the least) of Planet Earth: He carved a period out of eternity which we call “time.” No one on earth knows when this period will come to an end; but the Bible assures us it will surely end. And when it does, God will call the human race – just as He will call each one of us as individual people – to account for the ways we have used His gift of time.V2

V2 Matthew 12:34-37
O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man (or woman) out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things: and an evil man (or woman) out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that anyone shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.