Yep! That’s really me, and it would appear that I began hugging trees at a very early age. Today is Earth Day in case you missed that somewhere along the way, a concept first proposed by US Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin in a Seattle speech on September 20th, 1969 and first celebrated on April 22nd, 1970. From that first celebration until today, the whole eco-activism scene has been laced with all sorts of extremism and politics on both sides of the aisle and every side in-between.
Today, of course, the raging debate over global warming demands center stage on the environmental front, and polarizing extremists of all persuasions often continue to divert attention from some of the obvious things about which we might otherwise be able to agree. Can’t we all just agree to be more responsible stewards of our God-given resources? Maybe we could start there. Is that too much to ask?
As a child I remember being aware of how our nation’s highways were often littered with a staggering, stinking amount of trash and garbage hard to imagine today. Lady Bird Johnson began in 1965 an effort to beautify our nation’s capital and highways. She once said, “Ugliness is so grim. A little beauty, something that is lovely, I think, can help improve harmony which will lesson tensions.”
From those humble beginnings in the 1960′s, we are much better educated about being stewards of God’s earth than we were in the 1960′s. Our cars and factories have far less harmful emissions, we are beginning to understand recycling, starting to take reusable bags to the store and other little steps of progress. Despite a few notable exceptions, our highways are far less littered and cluttered than they were before.
These are just my personal thoughts, but it seems to me that as followers of Jesus Christ we could put aside our politics, our arguments for/against global warming, our snide wise cracks about the other side, etc. and consider a few principles:
- The earth belongs to God (Psalm 24:1; 89:11; 1Corinthians 10:26).
- God’s creation has been terribly twisted by sin and is presently “groaning” awaiting the fullness of redemption at the establishment of God’s Kingdom upon the appearing of our risen Savior (Romans 8:19-25).
- God’s original commission to man was to have dominion over creation as a responsible steward (Genesis 1:28). It would seem logical that even in our fallen condition we would have some responsibility to exercise stewardship over God’s earth, especially those of us who claim to have eternal life.
- The redemption realized through the finished work of Jesus Christ includes more than our souls; it includes all creation (Colossians 1:19-20).
- We are still expected to be faithful stewards (1Corinthians 4:2) of anything and everything that belongs to God – our time, our talent, our treasure, our natural resources.
Sometimes we hear the argument that it really doesn’t matter whether we take care of natural resources or not, because God has promised new heavens and a new earth (2Peter 3:13). I can remember in my younger and dumber days making tongue-in-cheek statements like that myself. We often failed to read the next verse (2Peter 3:14) which tells those of us who are looking for such things to be diligent to present ourselves before God as those who are in peace, without spot and blameless.
If we really followed the above argument to its illogical conclusion, we could say the same thing about our physical bodies. We have the promise of a resurrection body in the likeness of Christ’s. So, if that’s the case why should we worry about taking care of this old body in which we now life. Really! If this argument is true, then I’m thinking tonight is the night to go out for that triple bacon cheeseburger, super-sized orders of greasy fries and onion rings and wash it all down with a keg of beer! Then tomorrow night – repeat!
So, Happy Earth Day, my friends, from your little tree-hugging buddy.
OK, So I’m a Tree Hugger!
Today, of course, the raging debate over global warming demands center stage on the environmental front, and polarizing extremists of all persuasions often continue to divert attention from some of the obvious things about which we might otherwise be able to agree. Can’t we all just agree to be more responsible stewards of our God-given resources? Maybe we could start there. Is that too much to ask?
As a child I remember being aware of how our nation’s highways were often littered with a staggering, stinking amount of trash and garbage hard to imagine today. Lady Bird Johnson began in 1965 an effort to beautify our nation’s capital and highways. She once said, “Ugliness is so grim. A little beauty, something that is lovely, I think, can help improve harmony which will lesson tensions.”
From those humble beginnings in the 1960′s, we are much better educated about being stewards of God’s earth than we were in the 1960′s. Our cars and factories have far less harmful emissions, we are beginning to understand recycling, starting to take reusable bags to the store and other little steps of progress. Despite a few notable exceptions, our highways are far less littered and cluttered than they were before.
These are just my personal thoughts, but it seems to me that as followers of Jesus Christ we could put aside our politics, our arguments for/against global warming, our snide wise cracks about the other side, etc. and consider a few principles:
Sometimes we hear the argument that it really doesn’t matter whether we take care of natural resources or not, because God has promised new heavens and a new earth (2Peter 3:13). I can remember in my younger and dumber days making tongue-in-cheek statements like that myself. We often failed to read the next verse (2Peter 3:14) which tells those of us who are looking for such things to be diligent to present ourselves before God as those who are in peace, without spot and blameless.
If we really followed the above argument to its illogical conclusion, we could say the same thing about our physical bodies. We have the promise of a resurrection body in the likeness of Christ’s. So, if that’s the case why should we worry about taking care of this old body in which we now life. Really! If this argument is true, then I’m thinking tonight is the night to go out for that triple bacon cheeseburger, super-sized orders of greasy fries and onion rings and wash it all down with a keg of beer! Then tomorrow night – repeat!
So, Happy Earth Day, my friends, from your little tree-hugging buddy.