We tend to think of our origins in geographic terms, such as the place where we were born — in my case, Cleveland.
But is that actually where I originated from? How random, how capricious that seems — couldn’t it have just as well been Zimbabwe, Greenland or New York City?
Such birthplace distinctions have driven world wars, racial discrimination, class distinctions and a host of other evils — all based on where we were born and the identity of our parents. The Bible leaves no room for such parochial discriminations:
“Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God — you’re breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration — what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day.”1
Every human being, regardless of our place of birth, social status, race, religion or creed, has been personally formed by the hands of God in our mother’s womb. Our bones are inventoried, the number of hairs on our heads are numbered, our entire history is known to Him. Our “future” is already past to God.
In another scripture, God says, “He chose us (in him) before the creation of the world.”2 It could be said that you and God are old friends!
Meister Eckhart, German theologian, philosopher and mystic, wrote, “The whole Trinity laughs and gives birth to us.” So, where am I from? From the laughter of the Trinity, conceived in the mind of God before the earth was created, formed by the hands of God in my mother’s womb and placed on earth to fulfill my ultimate destiny.
And what destiny is that?
Why Am I Here?
“At the heart of our universe, each soul exists for God, in our Lord.”
— Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
In his book, The Purpose Driven Life, Pastor Rick Warren wrote:
“It’s not about you. The purpose of your life is greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your caree, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions.
“If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose. … Your relationship to God on earth will determine your relationship to him in eternity. … This life is preparation for the next.”
If the Bible is anything, it is about a conflict of intentions — first between God and Satan, and then between Satan and man, and finally between man and God.
We are faced with the tragic specter of the all-powerful God, who flung the planets into orbit with the simple statement of intent, “Let there be …,” in a head-on collision with creatures that He deeply loved.
It wasn’t until Jesus Christ appeared on the scene that the words “Thy will be done” ushered in a new era of realignment between man’s intentions and God’s intentions. As C.S. Lewis put it so effectively in The Great Divorce:
“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in hell choose the latter. Without that self-choice there could be no hell. No soul that seriously and consciously desires joy will ever miss it.”
The issue between God and man is an old one. In creating man in His image and likeness, God imparted many of His own characteristics to this new creation, giving Adam and Eve dominion over the world, allowing them the authority to exercise their free wills under the direction and authority of their Maker.
So, what could possible go wrong? Along came the Devil in a serpent disguise, who proceeded to hit these two innocents with an idea. A big one: You can be god of all this on your own. You don’t need “that other guy,” he’s just in the way. They bought it hook, line, etc.
Regrettably, both Adam and Eve had set the intentions of their “little kingdoms” against the infinitely greater Kingdom of God and his intentions. The rest of the Bible (from Genesis 4 on) describes how God set about dealing with the resulting global catastrophe at great personal cost.
The same proposition is before each and every one of us today. Who is going to be my God? Will it be Almighty God, with His stellar resume; or will it be me, with my trifling few “credentials?”
A final thought: We believe we comprehend our world through science and are convinced that our destiny is to create our own “worlds” in the process.
How little we “see,” how arrogant our self-sufficient visions. At best, we are “seeing through a glass darkly,” with eyes we received from Another, superintended by a brain we barely understand, in front of “a glass” that generates more questions than answers every time we peer into it.
“I believe in God like the sun, and by Him I see everything else.”
— C.S. Lewis
— D.C. Collier is a Bible teacher, discipleship mentor and writer focused on Christian apologetics. A mechanical engineer and Internet entrepreneur, he is the author of My Origin, My Destiny, a book focused on Christianity’s basic “value proposition.” Click here for more information. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
1. Psalm 139:13-16 The Message (MSG)
2. Ephesians 1:4 NIV
3. Warren, Richard. The Purpose–Ddriven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002. Print.