It really irritates me when i hear people bash environmentalists and continuously make fun of those who are "going green". As Christians, stewardship of the earth should be a principle that we are motivated to fervently pursue! We are living amongst God's creation - His trees, His plants, His animals, His world. Why wouldn't we want to take care of it?
In fact, Adam was commanded by God to tend to the earth, even after he sinned and was banished from the Garden. "Cursed is the ground because of you: through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground...." (Genesis 3:17-19)
Still, we need to be careful not fall into the same trap the Romans fell into, where ".....[they] worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator........" (Romans 1:25)
It is possible for anything to become an idol - something that we exalt higher, and give more prominence to, than God. When our lives are controlled by overwhelming thoughts on how every one of our actions could harm the planet, we are treading on very dangerous ground. God has numbered our days, as well as the days of His earth, and there is nothing we can do to postpone the eventual destruction of this world.
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away." (Mark 13:31)
Do you think God is panicking at the overwhelming use of resources His people are consuming? Do you really think He is afraid that "climate change" will end His creation? He is above all things and He ultimately decides when it is time to come back for His people. Until then, we should treat the earth with respect, but we need to remember that we still have a God-ordained dominion "...over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Genesis 1:28)
So, where do you find yourself this Earth Day? If you could care less about recycling and trying to conserve energy, then I encourage you to put a little more thought into how a Christian should value God's creation and natural resources. But if you see some areas in your life where you are maybe going a little overboard on "saving the earth", I also encourage you to remember how God is Sovereign and has everything under His control.
3 comments:
Our biggest "going green" thing has been cloth diapering our third child.
I truly felt compelled to do it and once I researched it, I found that it was much more doable and a lot less gross than I expected-lol.
I am also trying to get a compost heap going and soon I want to plant my square foot gardens.
On that note- how's your garden planning going?
A voice of calm and reason in a frightened world. Thank you for your thoughts.
Kristina - My garden planning is going great! I I have started my herbs in some little containers and I will be starting my zucchini and pumpkins inside soon. My raised bed is built and we are supposed to get a truckload of dirt delivered within the next couple of weeks! Can't wait to share after everything is planted!
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