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Creation Care

By John Spurling

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Genesis 2:15 (NIV)

The year was 1970, and I was in the third grade at Holy Ghost Catholic School. I remember sitting in Sister Gerelda’s art class one day on the second floor of that old school building. As a class, we were busy making artwork for the first-ever Earth Day in America. We had been busy throughout the entire school year with projects and programs all focused on cleaning up America and conserving our natural resources. I even went door to door that summer collecting old newspapers in my red wagon for the recycling drive.

There was also a very popular public service announcement (PSA) airing during that time on every television station (40 years ago it was a grand total of four or five stations). It showed a Native American in a canoe paddling his way across a trash-contaminated river to a trash-filled shore. Then, at the end of the PSA, he was standing next to a busy freeway when someone threw trash out their window and it landed at his feet. As he turned toward the camera, you noticed a single tear falling down the side of his weather-worn face. Then the announcer said, “People start pollution; people can stop it.”

Over the years, that simple psa consistently ranks as one of the most memorable public service announcements in television history. But that raises a series of important questions: Has anything really changed over the past thirty or forty years? Have we become a less wasteful nation? Are we more mindful of our environment? And do Christians possess some moral responsibility to care for the earth God created?

Across the landscape of America, heated debates rage around topics related to the environment and the adverse impact we as humans are making on the earth. Global warming, conservation, air pollution, and urban expansion represent only a few of the environmental concerns making headlines today. We’re called by God to be good stewards of the finances, talents, gifts, resources, and physical bodies He’s given us. But what about our stewardship of the earth He created? Should we give conscious consideration to our responsibility to steward the resources that exist here on earth? The answer, of course, is yes!

In the creation story in the book of Genesis, we see that God gave man and woman dominion over all the earth and the animals when He created them. Not only was this charge given to Adam and Eve, but to all the descendants that followed them (Genesis 1:26–28). The earth is an expression of the creative hand of God, and as He looked over the results of His handiwork, He declared that it was good (Genesis 1:31). Then He instructed Adam to care for the land and cultivate it (Genesis 2:15).

But does that give us the freedom to use the earth for whatever purpose we choose? Or is there something more to understanding what God intended when He gave us dominion over all the earth? Our authority as caretakers isn’t a license to dominate and destroy for one’s pleasure; rather, it’s expressed as something God has entrusted to us. As the psalmist writes, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1, NLT). Even though we as humans are at the top of God’s creative order, our dominion over the earth and all living things implies that our existence is supported by a fragile dependency on all of God’s creation to nurture and sustain us. Therefore, we must learn to place appropriate priority on our care and conservation of the earth and its resources.

At the same time, our stewardship of the earth should never be a higher concern than providing for human life and our compassion for other human beings. God’s creation has been given to us for our use and to benefit us in building healthy, productive lives. Part of our responsibility is to find the balance between conservation and human expansion; between protection of the environment and the proper usage of it. Remember, God looked over the beauty of His creation and declared it was good. It is up to each of us to be good stewards of all He has created. And as we do, perhaps we will bring a tear of joy to God’s eye.

We cannot live independently of the world God has placed us in. We are intimately connected. By God.

~ Rob Bell

Memory Verse

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. Luke 16:10 (NIV)