What I Tell My Kids God Made Us For

The shortest answer in the standard works to what God wants with us is a single sentence spoken to Moses on a mountain, and it is easy to say too fast. Here it is whole.

For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

Moses 1:39

The verse never tells Moses what Moses must do, or what a person should feel, or how much better we should be doing. It says what God's own work is, and it calls that work his glory too, as if the two were one thing. The thing being worked on is "man," and the verse doesn't sort him into careful and careless.

What the two big words are doing

Immortality and eternal life sit side by side in that sentence, and I used to hear them as one phrase said twice for emphasis, which I now doubt. My own reading, and it's only mine, is that immortality is the part where we don't stay dead (the resurrection) and eternal life is the kind of life God has, which is a different thing from simply going on and on. A person can imagine living forever and dreading it. The verse promises more than length.

The verse itself doesn't spell out the difference. It puts two things next to each other and leaves the seam showing.

Earlier in the chapter God has told Moses, "thou art my son" (Moses 1:4). So by the time verse 39 gets to "man," the relationship has already been named. A father is talking about a son.

Lily wanted a reason, not a destination

Wednesday after school Lily was at the table with her spelling list, which this week is all words that end in -tion, and without looking up she asked why God made us if he already had everything. I said, quick and pleased with myself, that he made us so we could come back and live with him. She went on writing for about a line and a half. Then she said, "That's what we're for. I asked why he made us."

She was eight years old and I had just been corrected over the word "caution."

I tried again and slower, starting with the fact that God didn't make us for a job. I said Moses 1:39 is God telling Moses what he himself is busy with, and that what he's busy with is us living and living well. I told her that I'd sooner say he wants us than say he needs us, because I don't think the verse says needs. She asked if that meant he was glad we were here, and I said yes, that's close to the plain sense of it. She said okay and went back to "-tion," and I stood there with the dish towel feeling that I had gotten about two-thirds of the way.

A child who asks why God made us is usually asking whether God wanted her. The verse speaks to that one. I had been handing her the other answer.

Where Lehi comes in

Lehi says that "men are, that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25). I only want that one clause here. Set beside Moses 1:39 it gives a second angle on the same fact: God's aim is the immortality and eternal life of man, and the reason people exist at all, Lehi says, is joy. Neither verse is a list of rules. Both say what it is all pointed toward.

Lehi has more to say in that chapter and I'm saving it for Monday.

S. M. Carlson, in chapter 11 of Finding God in the Unexpected, ties the hope of an afterlife to how we live now.

Disclosure: the publisher of this site is connected to the book mentioned above.

What I actually say now

If one of the kids asks, I say something close to this: God made us because he wanted us to live with him forever and really live, and he is working on that right now for every one of us. I stop there. I used to add a sentence about being good so we can go home, and that sentence turns a gift into a test. They hear it as a test every time, even Lily, who would never say so.

Ben turns three next Friday and gets the short version, about four words and a hug. When he came apart in the hardware store, what I gave Lily and Caleb was one line to carry out and no speech, and the same rule works for the God question at his age: short, and about him.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Moses 1:39 use the words "highest purpose"?

The verse says "my work and my glory," not those words. Highest purpose is how people (me included) paraphrase it. Fair enough, but it's a paraphrase.

What is the difference between immortality and eternal life?

The verse doesn't define them, so this is just how I read it. Immortality is resurrection, not staying dead. Eternal life is the life God lives. If somebody at church has a tidier definition, I'd listen to it.

How do I explain this to a young child?

Say it short and say it as news about them. God wants you, and he is working so you can live with him and be happy. Leave out the part about behaving until a child asks, and then give it as a separate answer.

Is this about being perfect first?

It describes what God is doing, and that's all it says on the point. Scripture asks plenty of us elsewhere, but I don't read that as a fee you pay before the purpose applies.

What I still don't like about it

The standard Primary answer is that we're here to be happy and to get back to Heavenly Father. It's true as far as it goes, and it goes down so smoothly that nobody notices it never answered Lily's question. It tells you what the finish line is. It doesn't tell you why anyone set up a race.

Moses 1:39 doesn't fix that for me either. It tells me what God is doing and that he calls it his glory. It doesn't say why he would want this, and I keep wanting it to. Every time I read it I get a sentence of comfort and then a blank where a reason should be. I've also never liked the word "work" in it, which in my kitchen means the part you do when you'd rather not. I know it's meant the other way. I still hear dishes.

with love, Melissa