God’s Original Design For Us
by David Dicken Jr. / October 2024
God’s Original Design For Us: A Life of Beauty and Harmony
The Story of a Prayer Request
While traveling through the Navajo reservation, I met a young girl working at a gas station. I was drawn to the beauty of her necklace and other fine jewelry, and after a brief conversation, I asked about her ancestors. Her countenance brightened as she explained her Navajo and Zuni heritage.
As I finished pumping gas, I asked if she had any prayer requests. She paused, and I watched a tear roll down her cheek. Then she said…
“I just want to live a happy life.”
Her simple yet profound request echoed something deeply human—an almost universal longing for happiness. We are all, in one way or another, on a journey toward joy, peace, and fulfillment. Yet for many of us, life’s circumstances bring pain and anguish. Still, that search for happiness remains. In that moment with this young girl, I saw that desire expressed in its purest form—a longing for something as simple as happiness. And in reflecting on the life and words of Jesus, I’ve come to see how it is often through our connection with God that this deepest desire can be truly met. In that brief exchange, standing in the middle of the desert, I felt an unexpected and meaningful connection—quiet, powerful, and profoundly human.
Happiness is part of God’s original design
In the beginning, God created us with a purpose—a divine design that spoke of beauty, harmony, and an abundant life. This original design has been echoed through the ages, reminding us that our lives were meant to overflow with joy, peace, and fulfillment. As we journey through life, we often seek to reconnect with this original blueprint; and the key to understanding it is found in the life and teachings of Jesus. Through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus revealed the essence of God's plan for us, showing us how to live a life full of beauty and harmony. This article explores God's original design for us and how Jesus came to restore that design, helping us live life to the fullest.
The Verse that Speaks of God's Original Design
One of the most powerful verses that illustrates God’s original design for us is found in John 10:10. The First Nations version offers a fresh perspective:
“Thieves enter only to take away life, to steal what is not theirs,and to bring to ruin all they cannot have. I have come to give the good life, a life that overflows with beauty and harmony.”
This verse is a declaration of God’s intention for us—to live a life that is rich and overflowing with beauty. The thief comes to steal our joy and peace, but Jesus reveals that He came to restore what has been stolen and to give us a life of wholeness. This life is not about mere survival or simply existing, but about living in a way that is vibrant, meaningful, and in harmony with God, ourselves, and others. It is a life that flows freely like a river, bringing peace and joy to all who drink from it.
A mother once shared with me that she had placed this verse on her son’s birth announcement because she understood its significance. It was her heart’s desire to see her son flourish—the dream of every mother. She wanted her child to grow up knowing that God’s original design was for him to experience the good life: a life overflowing with beauty and harmony. In this simple act, she recognized the truth that we are all created to thrive and be happy.
How the Adversary Distorts God’s Design
We learn from the Gospel of John 10:10 that Jesus warns us of an adversary at work—a thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Peter echoes this warning when he describes the adversary as a roaring lion prowling around, seeking someone to devour.
“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1Peter 5:8 NASB)
This adversary seeks to rob us of the joy, peace, and beauty that God intends for our lives. We live in a world that often feels chaotic, broken, and filled with conflict. It can be freeing to recognize how painful experiences—such as abuse, neglect, or abandonment—have shaped us. The way we interpret these experiences can deeply influence how we see ourselves and how we view life. The adversary often uses these wounds and circumstances to distort the beauty, identity, and sense of worth God originally intended for us.
But Jesus did not leave us alone or defenseless. He came to expose the lies of the adversary and to make a way for us to reconnect with God—our true source of life. He accomplished this not through dominance, but through service, sacrifice, and surrender. Through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus invites us into relationship with Him so that we may experience the beauty, peace, and harmony God intended from the very beginning.
Jesus' Purpose: Restoring Connection through
His mission was to model a life of compassion, empathy, and connection, and to restore us to the original design God intended for us from the beginning. In Luke chapter 4, Jesus quotes Isaiah 61, declaring that one of the central purposes of His ministry was to set the oppressed free.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Jesus reveals that His highest priority is setting the oppressed free—those living in bondage. This is good news for anyone bound by lies, especially the lies they have come to believe about themselves. Lies such as:
“I’m not good enough”
“I can’t”
“I don’t have any friends”
“I’m worthless”
“I’m a burden”
Jesus came to replace these lies with the truth—the truth about who we really are and the destiny God has for us. He demonstrated this by spending time with the oppressed and the outcasts, entering their homes and sharing life with them. Through His actions, Jesus revealed the truth about our worth, identity, and belonging in God’s family, so that we could begin to live in the freedom of who we truly are. Now we can say…
“I can”
“I’m valuable”
“I belong”
“I have purpose”
These stories became big news in the community and it upset the religious leaders, who criticized Jesus in Matthew 11:19:
“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”
This is the mission of Jesus—providing a way for us to live in communion with Him. Through this connection, we are empowered to live out God’s original design for us: a life filled with beauty and harmony.
Jesus explains the importance of remaining connected to Him
In the Gospel of John 15, Jesus paints a beautiful picture of our connection to Him—like branches abiding in a vine. In the opening verses, He says:
“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that does not bear fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.” (John 15:1-4)
Our connection to the vine is vital to producing fruit—it’s part of becoming whole. Through Jesus, we produce the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When we remain connected to Him, our lives become fruitful, just as a branch flourishes when it stays attached to the vine, and we begin to experience wholeness.
In verse 5, Jesus emphasizes the importance of abiding in Him:
“I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing.”
This life of connection with Jesus is not just about surviving—it’s about thriving and flourishing. Jesus promises that when we remain in Him, we will bear much fruit. This is the overflowing life God originally designed for us to live and experience.
The Joy of Connection
Jesus also emphasizes that staying connected to Him will fill our hearts with joy—the same joy that He Himself experiences. He says in John 15:9-11:
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
The joy that Jesus offers is not fleeting or superficial; it is deep, lasting, and full of meaning. It is a joy that comes from knowing we are loved by the Father, and that joy fills our hearts as we walk with Him.
Jesus Calls Us Friends
In John 15:12-15, Jesus invites us into an even closer relationship with Him, calling us His friends. He says:
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
Through His love, Jesus invites us into an intimate relationship with Him—one that is based on friendship, trust, and mutual love. We are no longer just His servants; we are His friends, and through that friendship, we gain access to the fullness of His joy, peace, and love.
The Beauty of Unity in Christ
In John 17, Jesus prays for the unity of all believers, that we may be one with Him as He is one with the Father. In verse 21 He prays:
“I pray that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
This unity is not just a theological concept—it is the basis for the life of beauty and harmony that God desires for us. As we are united with Christ and with one another, we reflect the beauty of God’s love and bring glory to Him. Jesus desires for us to live in harmony with Him and with each other, creating a community that is marked by love, peace, and joy.
The Holy Spirit: Our Guide to a Life of Beauty and Harmony
In John 14:16, Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to guide us into a life full of beauty and harmony:
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.”
The Holy Spirit empowers us to live out God’s original design in us, helping us bear fruit, walk in love, and experience the fullness of His joy. Through the Spirit, we are connected to Jesus and the Father, and empowered to live lives that overflow with beauty, peace, and harmony.
A Life That Overflows with Beauty and Harmony
In John 4:13-14, Jesus offers living water to those who thirst for a life of meaning and fulfillment:
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The life that Jesus offers is like a river that flows from within, quenching our deepest thirst and filling us with beauty, peace, and joy. It is a life that never fades, never runs dry, and always overflows.
Conclusion: Thriving in God’s Original Design
God's original design is a magnificent story, revealed through the three Persons of the Trinity working together in perfect harmony to restore us to a life of beauty, wholeness, and connection with God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.Jesus destroyed the works of the enemy, and we benefit from His victory. He restores our relationship with the Father, and through the indwelling Holy Spirit we are empowered to live the life God intended—a life that is abundant, fruitful, and full of joy.
As we remain connected to Jesus, we enter a place of life, security, and peace where we can truly thrive. We bear fruit, experience the joy of His love, and live in harmony with one another. This is the life God has always desired for us—a life overflowing with beauty and harmony.