I’ve recently been thinking about black holes. According to Wikipedia, black holes form when heavy stars collapse at the end of their life cycle. Many astronomers believe black holes exist in the centers of galaxies. Especially intriguing is that a black hole is believed to continue to grow by absorbing mass from its surroundings.

This information probably would not have made such an impact on my life except for a blog I read a couple of weeks ago by Joel Miller. In it, he makes this point:

“This is an exciting truth: God made us to bless us, to love us. Sometimes we assume that we were created to serve, love, and worship him. These are good and holy actions, but they are responses to God’s initiating act of love. He did not require service, love, and worship, and so created servants, lover(s), and worshippers. God’s only requirement is to be himself, to love. We are born—all things are born—from that divine desire.”

What he wrote is true.

Yes, God made us.

Yes, God loves us.

Yes, our service, love, and worship are responses to God’s initiating act of love.

But I believe he stopped too soon in his assertions. If we stop there, the implication (at least to me) is that we become the center of the universe: God made us to love us. Like an astronomical black hole, our egos can easily begin to grow as we absorb a level of self-importance that rivals God for His rightfully preeminent position.

We see this played out in the lives of children as well as adults. All too often, parents reinforce a child’s belief that the world revolves around him or her. This sense of being the center of the universe carries into adulthood, and ultimately into their relationship with God.

If we buy into this message that our self-importance is what drives God’s actions, I believe we do a disservice to the very nature of God. He is Yahweh, the eternal l AM – dependent on no one and nothing else. If we say He made us to love us, we must go back one step further and ask Why?

The Bible is clear. He did it for His own glory. He made us for His glory (Isaiah 43:7). He loves us for His glory. He chose Abraham as an act of His grace to show His glory. He rescued Israel during the Exodus to show His glory (Exodus 15:11). He brought them back from Babylonian exile to show His glory (Isaiah 48:11). He sent His Son to show His glory (John 1:14).

Instead of backing into this truth, I believe we need to start with it. We start with God’s glory, and everything else – and everyone else – flows from that source.God’s love for us is as lavish as love can get – so lavish that He did not hold back His own Son. What a privilege to know that He made us for His glory and He loves us for His glory. It doesn’t get any better than that!