The Value of Creation

All of God’s creation is important to him, down to the last sparrow and blade of grass. The story of mankind in the Bible begins in a garden and ends in a restored garden. The first commission to God’s people is found in the opening chapters of Genesis, which exhorts us to be caretakers of the gift of creation. But why?

The first chapter of the book of Romans tells us that all of humanity knows there is a God because God has revealed Himself, and His very nature, through creation. God directed this assurance, this undeniable proof, to people who are struggling with the most basic spiritual issue: The very existence of a loving Creator.

As the Bible opens, the author of Genesis chronicles God’s magnificent creations—man, woman, plants, trees, animals, sun, moon, stars, land, sky. With the creation of Adam, the scene shifts to the new garden, where the fall of humanity eventually occurs and introduces sin into the world. Suddenly, the garden was defiled. But as we read ahead—all the way to the end in the last book in Scripture, Revelation—we see the way God brings us back to a restored garden. The Bible begins in a garden and concludes in a restored garden. (See Genesis 2 & Revelation 22.) Shouldn’t this make us sit up and take note that there’s something important about a garden, something that tells us God values the relationship between His people and the rest of His creation? If one of the ways God reveals Himself to people is through His creation, doesn’t it stand to reason that we should share in His high value of caring for the environment?

Not only is creation an assurance, but its loving care is the biblical responsibility of God’s people. One of God’s first commands to mankind was to “tend His garden.” And then, after the great flood, God made a covenant, not just with Noah, but between Himself, the earth and humanity. We refer to it as the Covenant of the Rainbow.

Defining Environmental Stewardship

As we seek to become good stewards of the environment, we have to define environmental stewardship. Environmental stewardship is the idea that we should care for, manage, and nurture what we have been given. In our desire to take a biblical perspective on environmental stewardship, we find four major areas that require our attention. Unfortunately, many people have become disillusioned by the way some environmentalists express their support for the earth, resulting in disdain toward any group or movement that cares for the earth. However, behavior such as spiking trees, eco-terrorism, or burning down houses in unwanted developments is not true environmentalism. That is a destructive brand of activism that leads to nothing but confusion and division about the true purpose and intention of their cause. In our desire to take a biblical perspective on environmental stewardship, we find four major areas that require our attention.

1. Resource and provision. The first thing we must understand is that environmental stewardship views nature as a resource and provision. More extreme environmentalists tend to contradict this idea because they don’t have a biblical worldview. God has given us His creation not to abuse but to use.

   God has given us his creation as a way of providing for people. Plants and trees produce fruits, vegetables, and herbs which are all healthy sources of nourishment for people and animals. Properly managed land is what sustains these plants to grow. Then the fruit of the land sustains human existence. It’s a way God shows care for us through what He has created. Our day-to-day choices—how we manage the land with our crops, how we treat animals, and how we take care of our natural resources such as water and air is important because they are part of God’s great plan for resourcing and providing for His creation.

2. Accountability. Secondly, there must be a balance between the use and protection of the creation. God has given us the responsibility for life on all sides. One thing that stands out to me while reading through the Old Testament, especially during when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, is that God called Moses to be a game warden of sorts and protect the balance of creation. (See Deuteronomy 22:6-7.) God calls people to be responsible in terms of game loss and make sure harvesting animals is done in a responsible way. An animal that becomes endangered because of human abuse is unacceptable. We must be accountable for the way we handle the delicate balance of nature.

3. Blessing. A third element of environmental stewardship is that of blessing. Environmental stewardship must look at God’s creation as a blessing—something sacred. Whenever we see the splendor of God’s creation, we stand in awe, slack-jawed at the beauty in a sunset or the creativity in a mountain range or the pure serenity surrounding a pond hidden away in the woods. It’s in these moments that we realize how sacred these places are. It’s a sanctuary for God’s creation—a place where plants, animals, and people should treat creation with such regard, showing reverence toward the One who created it by making sure others have the opportunity to experience the unspoiled wonders we have.

4. Passing it down. A fourth aspect of environmental stewardship is its intergenerational nature. Stewardship is a value to be passed from generation to generation, emphasizing the great importance of caring for God’s creation. Most of the values we adopt from our parents are “caught,” actions and behavior we observe and absorb. What our parents say to us is important, but what they do leaves an indelible mark on who we are as we grow up and mature.

Excerpted from Saving God’s Green Earth: Rediscovering the church’s responsibility to environmental stewardship.