Each succeeding year on campus, I have noticed the increasing number of students who have never read the Bible. When ministering to such scriptural blank slates, I like to take them back to the very beginning, the creation account in Genesis. The story is a familiar one, even to those who have never read it. Indeed, its familiarity makes it easy for us to gloss over it as just another of those childhood lessons from Sunday school. One may say, "Oh, I learned about that a long time ago. I know all about it." However, as I have taken students through the first three chapters of Genesis, I have watched as the proverbial light bulb has been lit by deep revelation after deep revelation. In this post and several to follow, I hope to share some of these insights with you, especially concerning the love of God.

To start out, I'd like to ask a question that just about every human being has pondered at one time or another. Why are we here? In other words: Why did God create man? To answer this, we must contemplate God's nature. Who is He? What is He like? What makes Him tick? One clue to answering these questions is found in Genesis 1:26. We have been created in God's image, and because of that amazing fact we share some of His characteristics. Ask yourself these questions:

Why do I have friends?
Do I hope to get married someday? OR Why did I get married?
Do I hope to have children someday? OR Why did I want to have children?

There is something in us that craves companionship. We desperately need to have someone with whom we can share life. This is graphically demonstrated when someone is punished by being placed in solitary confinement. Left alone, the human mind eventually becomes unhinged. I remember before my children were born. My wife, Lisa, and I desperately wanted to have children. I've frequently pondered the reasons for this. We weren't lonely. We had a very fulfilling marriage full of fun and adventure. We wanted to have children so that we could pour out all our love and affection on them, and so that they could love us back. I remember after our first child, Matthew, was born and Lisa was pregnant with Michael. She would often say, "I love Matthew so much. I just can't imagine loving another child as much. I don't know if I have that much love in me." Needless to say, when Michael came along, somehow our love multiplied, and we fell in love with him every bit as much as Matthew.

We are created in God's image. The Bible tells us that God is love. He wants to have creatures in His very image upon whom He can pour out His very self, every last ounce of love that He has (which is a lot) and from whom He can receive love. God was not lonely. He simply had love to give and created man to be the recipient of it.

In the next installment, I would like to take a stab at answering another question that jumps out at us when reading the story of Adam and Eve. If God knows the future, certainly He knew that Adam and Eve would disobey Him and eat from the forbidden tree. So, why did He put the tree there in the first place? The answer is, because He loved them, but I'll explain that more fully next time.