To think upon the fact that we were all created by God for His good pleasure just floods my heart with wonder and joy! When I think upon His goodness and love and compassion and mercy and the ultimate sacrifice that He made in the crucifixion of His only begotten Son to gain our redemption… just thrills me so…. It makes me just want to bask in the thought of it all.

     In Colossians 1:16, Paul tells us, "For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, …. All things were created by, and FOR Him.

     God was not "created" for us. We were created by and for God. He didn’t create us as toys or robots like toy soldiers that kids move around at their whim.. to win the battle or to lose it.

     God created us for the express purpose of pleasing Himself. He gets pleasure out of His creation… we humans are the "crown of His glory."

     In Rev. 4:11 it says, "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for you have created ALL THINGS, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. Wow!!

     The Greek word here for "pleasure" is thelema which has the meaning of "determined, or act of choice, a will," all under the umbrella of a gladness, and to delight in the act. Just to think that God chose to create us with gladness and delight in His heart, so He could enjoy His relationship with us… it was His pleasure to create us.

     In Ephesians 1:5, Paul tells us that God "having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will…"

     Well, looking at our position before God from this point of view… that we have been created by Him and for Him… all for His pleasure…. How then should we view our sojourn here on earth in these temporary "tents" (i.e. our physical bodies) that we live in so to speak? Just how does God perceive us and what is our present life is all about. Of course, the Bible in its entirety holds all the answers, but for now, let’s look at a few people who have gone before us and who God has used to make the world take notice of Him and whom we know that He loved dearly….

     God loved Joseph. Of course, Joseph wasn’t perfect, but he lived to honor his father, Jacob, and God. Why didn’t God let Joseph grow up… enjoy himself, get married, have lots of children and die at an old age. Well, God had something that He needed done. God needed a man, and since He created us for His pleasure, He chose a higher but hard and difficult path for Joseph. Joseph was hated by his brothers, cast into a pit, sold into slavery, and forgotten. But all this time, Joseph had a sense of who he was. He was clay in the Master Potter’s Hand. He quietly remained steadfast, being the best servant that he could be. Then, falsely accused, he was cast into prison and forgotten. But God hadn’t forgotten him… God was with him every minute. Finally, the Pharaoh had a dream, and it was God’s time for Joseph to take his place in God’s predetermined plan.

     Joseph, as we know, interpreted the Pharaoh’s dream, and he told Pharaoh…"The dream of Pharaoh is one: God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do." This is the hour that God had prepared Joseph to be ready for. Now Pharaoh, like it or not, was face to face with GOD. He couldn’t escape it. He might deny God His rightful authority in his kingdom, but he couldn’t deny that God was GOD. Pharaoh watched as God brought favor to Egypt through Joseph. And eventually after the death of their father, Jacob, his brothers cowering before him in fear for their lives, Joseph told them, "..you thought to do evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive."

     This truly is the way that we also need to see things. God hasn’t just put us here to take it easy, for it is His will that ALL men shall be saved, and that NONE should perish. Once He has gotten hold of our hearts, and we've confessed Jesus as our Savior, and have become grafted into the Vine… then God needs ready workmen. He needs us to be ready to do His will, and look at our lives with eternity in our hearts.

     God loved Moses. It is evident that from Moses’ birth that God had His provident hand upon every aspect of his life. God loved Ruth. God loved Hannah. God loved Job and David and Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Hosea, and Peter, and John, and Paul, and on it goes. But look at their lives. In order to get sinful man’s attention so that God could speak to them through these people’s lives, each one of them suffered much. Not that God takes pleasure in our suffering, but that God takes pleasure in "vessels that glorify Him, and draw men to Him through their lives."

     God accomplishes many, many of His purposes in and through us by trials and tribulations… but in and through them, we can be praising Him and glorifying Him even as Daniel did, as David did, as Paul did. God was the core of their lives and they wanted to please Him only. Oh, yes, David was weak. He was dust like you and me, but oh how he loved God. Oh, how even today, through his anointed Psalms, he glorifies God and we see the love in his heart for God. David was the "apple of God’s eye." Why? Because, David always knew that while the world meant what happened to him for evil, God’s thoughts toward him were for good and not for evil. So Moses, David, and Daniel, and Joseph, and Ruth, and Peter, and John, and Paul and so many others rested in the fact that they were God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus, for good works which God before ordained (purposed, planned) that they should walk in them…. so that God might be glorified among men.

     Do we have that point of view tonight? Are we resting in God’s workmanship whether it be in great trials and tribulations or calm, in the deepest valley or the highest mountain? All to the end that God can use us to bring others to Him and to bring glory to His name? Let’s be Joseph’s, and Daniel’s, and Ruth’s, and Hannah’s, and Paul’s...  living epistles among men.

     We were and are created for God’s good pleasure. He means all that He ordains for us for GOOD. God loves us supremely… but God needs ambassadors for Christ, too.