15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. (Genesis 2:15)
The environment matters to God. As the ultimate creative force in this world, that which He has created has been much maligned under the attack of sin. We see this clearly in the attitude of man that was so great, it forced a savior to dwell among us. The message of His ministry was the redemption of all things – to put things back to His original intention.
In Eden, we find a blueprint for three relationships man is to foster. First and foremost, we are to cultivate a healthy relationship with our God. In order to fully engage the world in the way He wishes, we must build a thriving holy communion to Him. From this communion, our relationship to those around us is born. As image bearers, they matter to God. When we improperly deal with people, we are bringing a hatred to God. The third and most dismissed relationship we are to foster is with creation itself. The creator has given us a tremendous gift and responsibility on this planet and call us to take it seriously. Israel understood this. Their practices and way of life, while not perfect, promoted a deep reverence for creation.
The earth is the Lord‘s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein (Psalm 24:1)
There is a sense in Scripture that we are simply renting this planet until Jesus returns. All things belong to God and some day (hopefully soon), He will return to reclaim and redeem all we see. It is then the responsibility of man to thoughtfully steward and care for what is His. Of course, we can never fully care for it all for it is too big a task for one of us and sin has a way of destroying the best of intentions. But when we dismiss this responsibility, we dismiss the call of God. We have failed in this because we have made it a political instead of a spiritual issue. We are to show loving care for all things created, whether it be man or animal, because God embodies humble love. May we take this responsibility seriously and find God declaring at the end of our days “well done good and faithful servant”.
Matt simon blog 