For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. – Romans 8:19-21
God created the world; light and dark, land and sea, earth and sky, sun, moon and stars, vegetation, and all animal-life in the sky, water and land. And then God created humans and appointed them to care for creation by ruling and subduing it, as God’s vice-regents. But these first children of God turned away from Him. Creation was cursed because of their sin and they sinfully ceased to rule and subdue in God’s good ways.
Up until about five or six years ago, my understanding of God’s plan of salvation was almost exclusively about people. I knew there would be a place for the people to live with God, but further detail about that place didn’t seem very important. But this attitude really neglects to deal adequately with verses such as those we reflect on today, or even the significant Biblical theme of the land that will be the inheritance of God’s people. God doesn’t just care about people (though we will never be able to fully grasp how much He does care), He is also deeply concerned to bring all of creation back into fullness and flourishing, to release it from bondage to sin. In this way, all things would be reconciled to Himself (Col 1:20). God didn’t create the physical universe and place us in it so that we could eventually spend eternity with Him as disembodied souls floating about in a non-physical “space”. His creation was very good, and it will continue on in some form into eternity. All creation will be redeemed when the curse of sin is finally and fully defeated. Our eternal home will be in this redeemed creation.
But beyond being an interesting teaching point, what does this mean for the way we live?
Our core command is to love God and to love our neighbour as ourselves, and this necessarily includes the ways in which we care about the physical world. At a basic level, God created the world, and from it we get food and water and shelter. When we produce things unsustainably, we affect the ways in which everyone may be able to access what they need, and we affect how future generations may be able to use those resources. We are not loving our neighbours well when selfishness and greed drive decisions about how we use (and allocate) our natural resources.
There are many complex issues associated with how we care for creation, and it can be overwhelming to understand and consider it all. For many of us (including myself) the key question to ask: do I need it? (or perhaps, “do I need another one/a better one/a bigger one/a faster one?”) At the heart of so much that is spoiled in the environment is consumeristic greed and selfishness. Rather than use our resources to meet the real needs of others, we use our resources to fill our lives with more things. You may not be able to affect emissions targets, but look around you. What is happening in your local area, in the lives of your neighbours? How can you care for God’s creation where you are and promote life and flourishing in your community?
As children of God, we also know that we work towards something that will ultimately only be brought about by God Himself. Our hope isn’t in a particular Government policy or program that will make things right. Our hope is in our Father who will make all things perfect. This actually means that all our efforts, both big and small, will bear fruit. The fact that you recycled a few cans and bits of paper, amidst the tonnes and tonnes of unrecycled product could lead you to despair if this were reliant upon your efforts; but because we know what God has promised, we can even recycle in hope.
Our Father is concerned with the whole of creation. There isn’t any part of creation or of life that He doesn’t care about, and there is no part of it that was not affected by sin. Our Father sees the pain and frustration and bondage, and one day, all of creation will be released to finally function as it always should. But for now, we do our work towards that day, waiting in eager expectation that God will do as He has promised.
Prayer focus:
- Praise God that He created this world for us to live in, to work and be creative and enjoy
- Pray that we would care well for our world and be agents of blessing and flourishing in our community
- Pray that we would not become overwhelmed with the size of the task (of creation care) and learn what it means to continue to work whilst putting our hope and trust in God and His promises
