God Gave Us the Earth.
I've never been a green-freak. I try to take care of the earth because it's God's creation, but to be honest, I've never made this a priority. Much of the time my environmentally-friendly actions have actually been financial choices. For example, my dad bought me a car for college graduation (about a year late), and with gas prices as crazy as they were, I chose a Prius. 50 mpg? Yes, please. That's a huge financial savings! And if it helped the environment, that was just a bonus. Cloth diapers... a savings of $60-120 per month, depending in the deals. Again, yes! Yes, yes, yes! Not filling landfills? Again, just an added bonus.
Then on Sunday my pastor talked about this verse:
I do think of the earth as God's creation, so this wasn't a new revelation. But as this Psalm says, He put us - me - in charge of this earth. And what am I doing to help it? To be honest, I couldn't think of a whole lot. As I already said, the Prius and cloth diapering were financially-motivated decisions. While being a good steward with the money God has given us can be a godly motivation, it shouldn't be my only motivation. Taking care of His creation is just as much a calling.
While I do recycle, often I throw mail away in the trash, rather than recycling, simply because it's the easy thing to do. The recycling just seems too far away. But I have no excuse. If I'm in charge of the earth, then recycling should be another way for me to serve the Lord.
Additionally, recently my husband and I have been trying to eat real food. This has been a source of some tension because while he wants to ensure we're as healthy as possible, I just want to save money. Srill, in some ways eating real food saves us a lot of money because I'm not grabbing chips, Oreos, or Dr Pepper when I'm at the store. But in other ways, it costs more. We've been buying farm-fresh eggs and raw milk. I won't go into detail in this post, but we feel this is the best thing for our family and our health, even if it does cost a little more. And this verse confirmed it for me. It gave me peace in my heart that we are doing the right thing and respecting the Lord's creation even if it means adding a little more the grocery budget.
Then on Sunday my pastor talked about this verse:
16 The highest heavens belong to the LORD,
but the earth he has given to mankind. (Psalm 115:16)
I do think of the earth as God's creation, so this wasn't a new revelation. But as this Psalm says, He put us - me - in charge of this earth. And what am I doing to help it? To be honest, I couldn't think of a whole lot. As I already said, the Prius and cloth diapering were financially-motivated decisions. While being a good steward with the money God has given us can be a godly motivation, it shouldn't be my only motivation. Taking care of His creation is just as much a calling.
While I do recycle, often I throw mail away in the trash, rather than recycling, simply because it's the easy thing to do. The recycling just seems too far away. But I have no excuse. If I'm in charge of the earth, then recycling should be another way for me to serve the Lord.
Additionally, recently my husband and I have been trying to eat real food. This has been a source of some tension because while he wants to ensure we're as healthy as possible, I just want to save money. Srill, in some ways eating real food saves us a lot of money because I'm not grabbing chips, Oreos, or Dr Pepper when I'm at the store. But in other ways, it costs more. We've been buying farm-fresh eggs and raw milk. I won't go into detail in this post, but we feel this is the best thing for our family and our health, even if it does cost a little more. And this verse confirmed it for me. It gave me peace in my heart that we are doing the right thing and respecting the Lord's creation even if it means adding a little more the grocery budget.
Great reminder of being good stewards of what God has given us. I always explain to people when I am trying to be "green" or buy organic that it's simply because I feel God calls us to take care of what He's given us and/or it's to save money. It bothers me that the "green" thing turns so political to some.
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