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Being Green Is God’s Way!
Genesis 1:27-31
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Steward –
the dictionary defines it as “a person who manages another’s property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others.” In our text here, God is granting the stewardship of His creation to the man [Adam] and the woman [Eve]. They are charged with the responsibility of managing everything from the fish to the smallest of plants. This is very clear, I would even go so far as to say its not even open for debate. God expected mankind to care for and protect “every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
So what has happened in the last few thousand years? When was it that the people of God decided to stop being good stewards of His world? Here we are in the twenty-first century, and it seems that many Christians are oblivious to this simple mandate. As we sit by and watch silently, the beautiful home that God created for all of us is being slowly poisoned and destroyed by those who are either ignorant or driven by greed and fortune. The trail of destruction left behind is unthinkable. As one water pollution victim said recently, “How can we begin to explain ourselves and what we’ve done to our children and grandchildren?”
I am a Christian – a follower of God and Jesus Christ. I believe in salvation and redemption, grace and mercy, and God’s unconditional love towards mankind. I believe this is the greatest message to be given mankind, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature…” (Mark 16:15), but not at the expense of discrediting the other commands of God and ignoring our basic responsibilities as children of God and inhabitants of His creation.
I am dismayed about our attitudes toward stewardship for two reasons:
(1) In my experience, I have witnessed the “its a sin-filled world” excuse. Over and over good-meaning teachers and preachers tell us that all of this global mess is due to the fall of man and sin being in the world. This is true but herein lies the problem; We can sit back and identify the cause but we’re do nothing to cause change to take place. No where in the Bible have I found that we are to surrender to sin, in any shape or form. The opposite is true. We are to fight sin with everything we have, beginning on our knees in prayer. Do you honestly believe that God is apathetic about how we are abusing His miraculous creation? This observation about sin is only a lame excuse, a lazy justification for not getting off of our backsides and doing something, anything to be the stewards of planet earth that God commissioned us to be.
(2) I really struggle with the fact that it is the secular community that is sounding the alarm and raising awareness of this whole issue. God instructed His followers to to be the leaders where stewardship is concerned. This is God’s world! Why are we not in the forefront of the fight to preserve and protect it from self-annihilation? We have God’s Word, we know God’s plan. I believe the answer once again is apathy. Just like with our politicians, it is easier for us to point fingers and assign blame than it is to turn off unused lights, throw our soda cans in the recycle, and pick up the trash alongside the highway. Shame, shame, shame on us. Luke 12:48 says, “…For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required : and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more…” God has bestowed this amazing, majestic, beautiful world to us and He expects us to care for it accordingly.
I say it’s time for Christians or anyone who calls them self a follower of God to stop blaming sin and others or ignoring the issues and do the right thing. Being green is RIGHT! Taking care of this most precious gift from God is not only the right thing to do, its our job. So get busy and be a leader. Don’t wait for some ungodly, humanistic organization to do our job for us. Take the responsibility serious and protect and preserve God’s earth for Him until He comes again. May He find His stewards faithful!
I hope that this meditation encourages you in a special way today. May God richly bless you!
