Wednesday, January 18, 2023

 

Wednesday, January 18, 2023


Psalms 41; 44:1-9

Genesis 8

John 8:12-20


The LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.”


There is a real phenomenon happening in our culture concerning our attitude towards the environment. All the doom and gloom we read and hear about the imminent end of the world has caused many people to suffer from what has been called “eco-anxiety”.


It is far too easy to be sucked in to the alternative religion of climate change alarmism. Don’t be fooled: this is a religion. It has it’s own creation story, eschatology, atonement, liturgy and rituals. We Christians need to be spiritually discerning creatures when we think about the environment, and not be drawn along by the changes and chances of this fleeting world.


We humans are the height of God’s creation in this universe. Everything else is “below” us. Or, another way, everything else relies on us. This is why when Adam fell, the rest of creation fell too. It is also why Paul teaches that all of creation groans waiting for our redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ: when we are raised, everything else will be raised with us, in the new heavens and new earth.


This place that God has given us means we have a great responsibility, too. We are made in God’s image, as His representatives, and this has implications on how we are to treat the rest of God’s creation.


The answer to the issue of climate change is greater than the question of whether it is actually happening or not. It is greater than whether we should be separating our rubbish, or which of us are to blame. Rather, it reminds us that, as human beings, we sit in pride of place of all creation as the creature which has been made to care for other creatures. This role of caretaker is because we are made in the image of the God Who Cares. Even though we are “evil from our youth”, God will not accept the destruction of the human race as an acceptable exchange for a healthy environment. Nor is God happy with destroying the environment altogether simply because it might seem too far gone. Rather, our God is the Light of Life: all life is precious, and the pursuit of life is the ultimate objective of all things which proceed from God’s creative energy.


In the wake of the Flood, God repeats the commandment He gave to Adam and Eve: “be fruitful and multiply”. He is not concerned with “overpopulation”. The more of God’s children in existence, the merrier, as far as our Creator is concerned. The atmosphere will never burn off. The icebergs will never melt enough to flood the whole world. There will always be planting and harvest, summers and winters. God cares for us, and He cares for the creation He made, blessed, and called good. The moment this natural world disappears is that specific time God has chosen. It is the moment when we will all be raised from the dead and called into the new heavens and new earth, a place of no tears, our true home.



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