By Felix Ngunjiri Gichuri

Why were we created by God? Did God create us so that we become engineers, drivers, teachers, lawyers, doctors? No. God gave us hands and feet and ears and eyes and a brain so that we can use them to fend for ourselves for survival. “In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and unto dust shall you return.” (Gen 3:19 [KJV]) Adam was condemned by God to be eating from his sweat after he sinned against God. To be told that you shall be eating from the sweat of your hands all the days of your life is not a blessing. That is why you might find a guy multi-tasking as a qualified lawyer, doctor, an architect, a parent and a spouse all rolled up in one package. When will he ever rest? Always sweating, laboring and waking up at 3 am in the morning to go to work and coming home in the evening past midnight. All that being done so as to put food on the table for their family. Or do they struggle very hard because the Bible says that if we are not willing to work, then we do not deserve to eat food? May be they know why. “For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” (2 Thessalonians 3:10) [English Standard Version]

Is there a way out of this trap? Yes. The answer is hidden in finding out the real reason why God created us human beings. The reason why God created us can easily be identified in whether whatever we do is serving ourselves or serving God. We serve ourselves in the things we do here on earth to advance ourselves in our various professions and occupations. In all our occupations of teaching, farming, driving, nursing, designing, counseling, singing and in all the other earthly occupations, please note that they have a shelf life. Failing health and advanced age will limit us in our professions from executing our duties and we will be compulsorily retired due to advanced age or forced out of office because of sickness or incapacitation.

God Created us to Worship Him

The divine truth is that we were created for a purpose; a divine purpose that we worship God because of His goodness. God wanted to create a people who would be worshipping Him for His goodness, mercies, love, His good plans for us and for being our God. God being the creator of heaven and earth decided to create a people who shall be worshipping him. God cannot worship Himself or praise Himself or thank Himself. The animals he had created could not worship Him for they did not have the infrastructure of faith like the one that God fitted us with in our hearts. They were not formed in His image. Some looked like mountains, valleys, trees, stones and water and none of those animals was in His likeness. That is why God consulted His Son and the Holy Spirit and said “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). It is only humans who have the faith infrastructure breathed into us by God during creation. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Gen 2:7 [KJV])

The main purpose why God created us is that we worship Him by serving Him. Serving God is availing oneself to Him always so that one becomes a servant of the Most High God. God created us as worshipping creatures who would worship Him down here on earth and in heaven. We are supposed to worship God here on earth as a rehearsal for the eternal worship we shall accord Him in heaven when we join Him there after this life. In heaven, God is surrounded by worshippers who worship Him eternally. “The twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and worship Him who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being” (Revelation 4:10-11) [NIV].

We can use various ways of worshipping God in whichever state we are in as a way of serving Him. You can worship God when you are young or old, healthy or sick, rich or poor, inside the temple or church or while in the belly of a giant fish.

 But what is worship or what does it mean to worship? Worship in Christian terms is an act of religious devotion directed towards God. Worship is the act of showing respect and love for God. Worship is excessive admiration for God, to express an adoring reverence or regard for God. Worshipping God is having very strong feelings of affection for Him and being unreservedly dedicated to Him. Worship is an expression of love for and devotion to God.

God Actually Taught Us How We Can Worship Him

God created us so that we fit in His premeditated and pre-planned divine purpose for us here on earth. We were created to fulfill God’s purpose here on earth which is to serve, worship and glorify His name and receive the Kingdom of heaven for it to be established down here on earth in our lives so that whatever is done in heaven is also done here on earth and in our lives. Jesus taught us how we should always pray.  “This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9-10) [NIV] God is the source of blessings. God’s plan is that we should experience those blessings while we are here on earth. We can assume that heaven is the source of good health and of course there is good health in heaven because Adam and Eve were given the tree of life to eat in the garden of Eden. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” (Gen 2:7-9 [KJV]) And “that tree of life is for the healing of the nations.” Revelations 22:2.

God wants us to enjoy good health while we are here on earth.  Christians mainly worship God during prayer. Jesus taught His disciples the manner in which they should be praying to our Father who is in heaven by worshipping Him using His Model of Lord’s Prayer in our daily prayers to God. He also expected them to teach others how to pray using the prayer model. And that is why you and me were able to learn how to pray to God because of the efforts of the missionaries who risked their lives that we may receive the good news of the Kingdom of God. Jesus instructed His disciples to be worshipping the Father at the start and the end of the prayer. Jesus taught His disciples how to worship God for who He is. We should therefore exalt God as the object of our praise; the recipient of our love and the source of blessings for our lives. Worship is an expression of love towards a superior being who is being looked upon for help. God expects us to magnify Him as “Our Father” who lives outside and above our circumstances up there “in heaven,” and who is also close enough to dwell in our midst and in our hearts and meet our needs. You are expected to uplift His name because He is majestic and He alone is the Lord of Hosts. His power transcends in everything and as everything in heaven and on earth because He is a Sovereign and Supreme God. God expects us to worship Him by thanking Him always always. God cannot thank Himself. That is why He created us to be thanking Him. We are commanded to thank God always. “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1Thess 5:18 [KJV])

 “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;” (Eph 5:20 [KJV])

“By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” (Heb 13:15-16) [KJV]

Let us be thanking God by blessing Him for His benefits. “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Ps 103:1-5) [KJV]

We are supposed to worship the Lord God Almighty the way David used to do when he sang Psalm 113. “Praise the LORD! Praise God, you servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD. Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, the LORD’S name is to be praised. The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, who dwells on high, who humbles himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth! He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the dunghill; That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people. He makes the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD” (Psalm 113:1-9).

How many of us can praise God like David from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same? David is telling us to be worshipping God when walking, waking, waiting, working, and when weak, weary and wasted. Jesus taught his disciples to worship God by praising Him. Proclaim to Him that “Holy be your name,” to demonstrate that God the Father should be glorified in heaven and on earth by all and in all because “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” (Isaiah. 6:3). As you come to the end of your prayer, praise Him that He alone reigns in heaven and on earth and proclaim that Him alone is the King of kings and Lord of lords and His Kingdom will have no end. Bless His holy name because He created us in His image and likeness. And being King of kings, He created us as kings and gave us who believe in Him dominion and power and authority over everything that creeps on the face of the earth. Let us worship God by blessing His holy name and for creating us as kings. We messed ourselves and lost the kingship to the devil who became the prince of this world and then he made those under his rule to live a life of hell here on earth. Jesus came to restore to man what Adam lost: kingship, dominion, power and authority on earth. “The Seventy returned with joy, saying, “Look, I have given you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; nothing will ever harm you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:19-20 [KJV])

Praise Him for His supremacy, sovereignty, glory, honour, power unto Him that sits on the throne in heaven forever and ever. “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever Amen.” (Matthew 6:9-13).

People also worship God through praising God for His goodness, for His love endures for ever (2 Chronicles 7:3) and in giving of gifts (Matthew 2:11). Forms of Christian worship include: praising God with songs (2 Chronicles 29:28, Revelation 13:4), dancing for the Lord (2 Samuel 6:14), bowing down the head (Genesis 24:26, Exodus 12:27), serving God (1 Kings 9:9, 1 Kings 16:31), kneeling before God and giving thanks, (Daniel 6:10) and praising by blessing Him by lifting hands and bowing your head to the ground. “And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground.” (Nehemiah 8:6 [KJV])

Surely there can be no excuse for not worshipping God because if you cannot kneel down to worship Him, you can thank Him or praise His name or just bless Him by telling Him that He is worthy of blessings. “And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou are worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for you were slain, and has redeemed us to God by your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And has made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that lives for ever and ever.” (Rev 5:7-14 [KJV])

God Created us as Worshippers: Some Prophets, Some Pastors

According to the eternal design of God for man, we were created in heaven by God Himself who knew us before we were born. This was revealed much later to prophet Jeremiah around the year 626 B.C. “Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:4-5) [NKJV]. God had already sanctified man in heaven and ordained him to be prophet of the nations here on earth. In other words, God in His eternal wisdom had originally sanctified man before he was born and already ordained us as prophets and pastors even before we were born.

“But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” (Eph 4:7 [KJV]) Now look at the next few verses and you will see the kind of gifts that every one of us was given, including those serving prison terms and prostitutes in brothels. God sees all of us as pastors and preachers and is looking forward to the time we shall turn from our wicked ways and serve Him. And many sinners have repented of their sins and are preaching Christ. “And He personally gave gifts to people: some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12) [HCSB] And many ex- sinners are preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to the nations. That is God’s purpose for our lives: to glorify God in whatever we do or say of hear or when eating or drinking or in the clothes we wear t glorify His name. “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for God’s glory.” (1Cor 10:31 [HCSB])

Purest Form of Worship is to Love God with All our Heart

God created us for a divine purpose: to be praising Him, thanking Him and to be glorifying His name for His goodness because His love for us endures forever. Thank Him for the many good things that He has done for you today: the gift of this day, the gift of life and the gift of good health that he has given you today and always will if you continue crying to Him for daily mercies. When we consider His goodness and mercies, our hearts should be overflowing with love for Him for this far He has brought us and burst into thanksgiving and praise and worship. “Give thanks to the Lord; his faithful love endures forever!” (2 Chronicles 20:21 NLT)

God expects us to reciprocate the love that He has for us by loving Him wholeheartedly. The purest form of worshipping God is loving God. Loving God is the greatest commandment for mankind to fulfill. Jesus said that “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang/depend all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40 [KJV]) And that is why God created us: to be worshipping Him in spirit and in truth. “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24 [KJV])

Amen.