Going Green

I have been following the daily updates on the horrible oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. No matter your political persuasion or environmental views the pictures of oil drenched wild life and stained beaches are disturbing and discouraging. Watching the news reports reminded me just how much we all rely on God’s creation to sustain us.

I have been following the daily updates on the horrible oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. No matter your political persuasion or environmental views the pictures of oil drenched wild life and stained beaches are disturbing and discouraging. Watching the news reports reminded me just how much we all rely on God’s creation to sustain us. Fisherman who need clean vibrant waters have the potential to lose everything because of the spill and beach front vacation resorts are vacant and workers jobless as a result. We are more dependent upon God and his creation than we sometimes realize.
Since God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden man has had the responsibility of managing God’s creation. We are called to be good stewards of the ongoing management of God’s earth. The Psalmist wrote, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it” Psalm 24:1. Stewardship of God’s creation begins with the acknowledgment that we are not the owners of this earth. God is the owner and we are managers.
Some believe that it is impossible to be an evangelical (Christ followers who believe the Gospel) and an environmentalist. Long before it was politically fashionable to be an advocate of the environment the bible proclaimed the message of environmental stewardship. If we claim to follow Christ than we are given the mission of managing all of God’s creation. I remember the slogan, “think globally and act locally”. It drives home the message that before we begin to tackle the big challenges we should care for those parts of God’s creation that are under our direct management. It’s easy to talk a big environmental talk and want to clean up the world’s oceans but what are we doing with those things God has placed under our control.
Evangelicals fear that if they team up with those labeled environmentalist they may be doing damage to their theological foundation and faith. The simple truth is that God cares about all of his creation. As Christians we are to commit ourselves to the type of stewardship that fulfills God’s command to sustain our lives from the earth and the wildlife he gave us. We are to treat the earth with all the care and love that God would. While he values all created things he has a special relationship with mankind and he never elevates the earth, animals or the environment to our level. He sent Jesus to die for every man and woman. That makes us so much more valued in his sight but never gives us the right to destroy the environment.
Our responsibility is to be good stewards of God’s creation but reflect his values and priorities when making all sorts of decisions including those that impact the environment. One of the responsibilities I have at Bethel is to care for our building and manage the finances in such a way that we are not wasting anything. We have taken steps to manage our use of utilities efficiently and this has saved us money but the other blessing is to know that we are caring for the environment as well. If that means we have gone green then so be it!
I would love to hear your input concerning the Christians role in dealing with environmental issues.