taking care of god's creation essay

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The Importance of Taking Care of God's Creation

Categories: Environmental Issues God Religious Beliefs

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Published: Mar 1, 2019

Words: 492 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Works Cited

Anonymous. (n.d.). Genesis 1:1-2:15. BibleGateway. Retrieved from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1%3A1-2%3A15
Carr, D. (2016). The beauty of God's creation. Ministry Magazine, 88(4), 11-14.
Chan, J. W. (2019). Environmental stewardship: A biblical perspective. In S. A. N. Fernando (Ed.), Science and Christianity: A partnership in action (pp. 81-100). Theological Publications in India.
Gobster, P. H. (2018). The call to care for creation: Perspectives from world religions. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 12(1), 53-81.
Guzman, J. A. (2015). Caring for God's creation: The Christian ecological ethics of Aldo Leopold. Ecotheology, 20(2), 220-233.
Hessel, D., Ruether, R. R., & McFague, S. (Eds.). (2000). Christianity and ecology: Seeking the well-being of Earth and humans. Harvard University Press.
Ingersoll, T. (2016). Christian environmental stewardship in the Anthropocene. Theological Studies, 77(3), 667-688.
Johnson, B. R. (2015). Earth and embodiment: The praxis of creation care in a particular place. Theology Today, 72(2), 170-186.
Schaefer, R. T. (2018). Theology for earth community: A field guide. Fortress Press.
White, L. (1967). The historical roots of our ecological crisis. Science, 155(3767), 1203-1207.

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Why Care for God’s Creation Matters: A Biblical Perspective

O ur responsibility to care for God’s creation is sort of like the ultimate babysitting gig. A babysitter temporarily acts as a child’s primary caregiver, attending to the child’s needs and keeping the child safe. The child does not belong to the babysitter, but the responsibility for that child’s care does for a period of time. Similarly, the earth is not ours, but we have been entrusted with caring for it, protecting what God has made so that it can be enjoyed for generations to come.

Some Christians think we only need to worry about the world’s spiritual health—that so long as we have salvation in Christ, what happens to God’s creation as we await Christ’s return is unimportant. But the Bible indicates that Christ is about redeeming the whole earth, not just our souls.

And doing nothing to help care for the earth also goes against some babysitting basics. When a child tries to play with matches or run into the middle of traffic, a good babysitter doesn’t sit back and wait for the parents to come back and intervene. Rather, the babysitter puts the matches safely out of reach. The caretaker guides the child away from the speeding cars of rush hour. She takes immediate action to keep the child, placed in her care, safe.

We as Christians cannot sit back and do nothing while God’s creation is being harmed on our watch. Creation is for God’s glory , and humans have been given the special responsibility to care for God’s creation. The destruction of creation not only imperils life, including human life on this planet; it is also a sin against God.

Climate change and other environmental threats devastate and wreak havoc on the world God has made. What guidance can the Bible offer us on care for God’s creation in light of these contemporary challenges?

Genesis 1–3: The story of creation and the fall

Theologically, the first three chapters of Genesis tell us a great deal about three pivotal relationships: those between God and creation, God and humanity, and humanity and the rest of creation.

Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 provide two versions of the creation story. While the two accounts differ in their specific details, they come together to paint a shared theological truth. God made humanity to live in shalom with each other, God, and all of creation. Shalom is a Hebrew word for harmony, peace, wholeness, and justice. It describes things as they should be.

Within this ecosystem, from the start, God assigns humans special responsibilities. In Genesis 1, God gives humankind dominion over other living things. In Genesis 2, God puts humankind in the garden of Eden to “till it and keep it.” However, God also specifically instructs them not to eat from one particular tree: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The story of Adam and Eve’s eating the forbidden fruit doesn’t just represent human rejection of God’s way. It represents the fracture of both humanity’s relationship with God and God’s creation. The reverberations of human sin disrupt shalom across all of creation.

“Cursed is the ground because of you,” God said to Adam. “Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you” (Genesis 3:17b-18a).

This would be a dire predicament if the story ended there. Fortunately, God doesn’t give up on us so easily.

How Jesus restores our relationship with God’s creation

In the New Testament, we discover that Christ not only restores and reconciles our relationship to God; Christ also restores our right relationship to the creation of which we are a part.

In the first chapter of Colossians, for example, we read: “through [Christ] God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:20).

And in the letter to the Romans, Paul writes: “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility … in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:19-21).

Our new life in Christ consists of a restored relationship to both God and creation. As people in the body of Christ, we—and all of creation—move toward the fulfillment and wholeness intended for everything through Christ.

We are not delivered from this world, nor are we simply assured of a greater spiritual reality lying beyond this world. Rather, the bodily resurrection of Christ means that the power of sin and death is defeated. The new creation is breaking forth in this world.

Our new life in Christ has its roots and bears its first fruits here, within our own broken and mortal lives. Likewise, newness in Christ for all the rest of creation begins here, within its mortal brokenness.

Related: How Facing Death with Christian Hope Can Bring Us New Life in Christ

Daily we experience brokenness within the created order.

Nature erupts with hurricanes, floods, droughts, and earthquakes in protest of climate change we’ve helped cause. We cannot drink safely from streams and rivers. The air around us has been fouled by the fumes from a nearby industrial plant, by invisible wastes of our own automobiles, by the stench of a giant feed-lot containment for cattle outside town. Creatures of the deep choke on plastic we’ve thrown away without care.

As a people who are being made new, we have a particular interest in the renewing of God’s creation. From the start, God has called upon humans to serve as stewards of creation—to till the soil and oversee the rich garden of creatures around us. Now, many of these precious creatures are endangered, and we humans are to blame. What might we do to restore God’s creation to its true beauty, to bring it closer to shalom ?

Why care for God’s creation must be a global effort

Our broken relationship with creation has a far-reaching impact, touching all that God has made. So our care for God’s creation cannot be limited to just one sliver of it. The church’s care for the earth needs to be global.

We ought to be concerned about the deterioration of land, air, and water within our own immediate communities. We ought to be concerned about the impact of climate change on the places where we live. But our task of caring for God’s creation calls us far beyond these boundaries. The vision of shalom is one in which all people share the resources of creation harmoniously.

The life-sustaining resources of creation are in peril throughout the globe. The massive consumption of our own affluent societies is severely straining the resources of the earth. And the natural world is not Las Vegas. What happens in one region doesn’t stay there.

The ways we’re consuming energy and resources are changing the climate of the entire planet more rapidly than ever, already causing devastation in some regions. There are also finite limits to many resources, and if one group takes more than they need, it means another group gets less. Likewise, when one area of the earth ignores the threat of climate change, the rest of the planet pays a price, too. And the people who are already the most vulnerable economically are likely to be hit hardest. A pattern of reckless and unjust resource consumption lies at the heart of our environmental peril.

We can begin caring for the earth, then, only from a posture of repentance. The restoration of God’s shalom for all of creation requires changes in our attitudes, in our values, and in our lives. If Christ’s work of redemption extends not only to us, but to all creation, then it’s time that we demonstrate redeemed relationships to the earth’s resources and a commitment that they be shared justly with all people.

Care for God’s creation

For ideas and resources on creation care, explore this toolkit that includes teaching tools for kids; ways to mobilize your church for climate justice; prayers, liturgies, and songs you can use for worship; and more!

This article draws on and adapts material from “Care for the Earth: Theology and Practice,” a 1982 paper by the RCA Commission on Christian Action. Read the full paper here.

Grace Ruiter

Grace Ruiter co-founded Faithward and oversaw its growth from a small blog to a ministry that reaches 100,000-200,000+ people each month. She has been asking too many questions ever since she started talking, and she has no plans of stopping now. Although her curiosity has challenged her faith at times, it's also how her relationship with God has grown to where it is today. You can get in touch with Grace at [email protected].

RCA Commission on Christian Action

The Reformed Church in America’s Commission on Christian Action informs and advises the church concerning current social issues and the spiritual and Christian principles by which critical evaluation may be exercised and proper action taken. Learn more about the commission’s priorities and work .

Loving God means caring for his creation

The Christian vision of creation care is rooted in Scripture. Jesus taught that the most important commandments are to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:29-31).

Our love for God must be reflected in fulfilling the role he gave to humanity. God appointed us to bear his image (Gen 1:27) and entrusted this world to our care (Gen. 2:15). So caring for God’s creation is one of the most fundamental things we are called to do.

Scripture is clear that creation belongs to God: “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Ps. 24:1). “For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine” (Ps. 50:10-11). “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth… all things have been created through him and for him” (Col. 1:15-16).

In the law given to Israel through Moses, God made provision for renewal of the land (Exodus 23:10-12) as well as for the poor (Leviticus 23:22) and for other creatures (Deuteronomy 25:4). Following the law was costly for the Israelites. Creation care may be costly for us in similar ways, today.

Our actions have caused the loss of biodiversity across the world today. Biodiversity refers to the number of different kinds of plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi in a given ecosystem. Because of human impacts on the environment, species are becoming extinct at a much higher rate than normal. The natural rate of extinction is estimated to be 1-5 species per year. The current rate is 1,000 to 10,000 times faster. On average, one species goes extinct every hour. All creatures have value before God, because God made them and called them good (Gen. 1). If we love what God loves, then we must lament biodiversity loss and the extinction of other species—especially when we’re the cause.

Loving others means caring for creation

To some Christians, “creation care” can sound like we value the planet more than people. But caring for the planet really is caring for people. The effects of environmental degradation on human health are devastating. Malnutrition from food shortages, higher rates of tropical disease, cardiorespiratory distress from pollution, and conflicts over natural resources are just some of the ways environmental problems impact the lives of real people. At first climate change might seem unrelated, but it is more than a matter of warming up a few degrees. Climate change is a “threat multiplier.” It will make lots of bad problems worse—refugee crises, hunger, disease, poverty, biodiversity loss, deforestation, air pollution, and scarcity of resources. Christians working in Majority World countries often see the effects of environmental degradation and climate change in ways we don’t here in the United States. They can attest to the realities of drought, pollution, and conflict that are exacerbated by human activity. The poorest and most vulnerable people on the planet are negatively impacted by the choices and actions of the wealthiest (see the booklet Loving the Least of These: Addressing a Changing Environment , produced by the National Association of Evangelicals).

Caring for the planet is caring for our fellow humans. We tangibly show love for our neighbors when we act in ways that promote their good. Who is our neighbor? When Jesus was asked that question, he responded with the story of the Good Samaritan. Today in the context of the climate crisis, that must mean we are not to prop up the lifestyles of those of us in the wealthy, industrialized economies at the expense of those who will suffer most as a result of the changing climate.

Rational hope and taking action

What would happen if the church caught a vision for creation care? If we let our attitudes and actions be guided by Scripture instead of our lifestyles and political preferences? What if we really believed the end of our own story, that Christ is reconciling the entire creation to himself, and we have been called to be a part of that?

Rational hope means taking the data seriously and accepting the enormity of the problems we’re facing, yet doing so with the hope of the Gospel firmly in view. This posture empowers bold action. Christians are uniquely poised to act. Think of the number of churches, missionaries, and aid organizations all over the world. If we saw creation care as a strategic priority for helping us to fulfill the Great Commission, we could see massive changes (see the Lausanne Movement statement ) . We live out the Gospel and show the love of Christ to the poor and vulnerable by meeting their basic needs (Matthew 25:40).

It’s encouraging to see what people are already doing. For example, Young Evangelicals for Climate Action has a Fellows program in which college students develop a project plan over the summer and execute it on their campus during the school year. Past fellows have installed solar panels on campus, begun composting programs in the dining halls, set up recycling programs, and engaged their legislators. Many Christian colleges are leading the way by installing solar panels or white roofs, running sustainable agriculture programs, and leading mission relief and development trips that specifically include a sustainability or climate angle to them. Even kids can make a powerful impact!

There are so many ways to get involved, it can be overwhelming. The most important thing you can do may be to talk about it with others in your life . But your tangible actions, even small ones, do make a difference. Here are some ideas for getting started:

Go outside. Behold the beauty of the created order, and thank God for it. We cannot love that which we do not see, and we cannot see what we are not connected to .
Sign up for Climate Caretakers . Every month they will send you a list of 3 things to do and things to pray for.
Host a seminar at your church. Invite a speaker from BioLogos or the Evangelical Environmental Network .
Conduct an energy study for your church or your school. LiT does this from a Christian perspective. They help save money that can be used for other purposes for the church, including missions.
Volunteer with A Rocha on a restoration project.

Finally, equip yourself with quality resources on the science and theology of creation care. The National Association of Evangelicals’ booklet “ Loving the Least of These: Addressing a Changing Environment ” offers an excellent overview of both. Also see an essay by Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. For book-length treatments of the subject, see Steven Bouma-Prediger’s For the Beauty of the Earth and Douglas and Jonathan Moo’s Creation Care: A Biblical Theology of the Natural World . To dig further into the science, we recommend Skeptical Science , Global Weirding , and the books, articles, and talks by scientists of faith like Katharine Hayhoe , Cal DeWitt , and Rick Lindroth .

Related resources

If you enjoyed reading this Common Question, we recommend you check out the following:

Caring for People and the Planet

Christians and Climate Science: Moving Beyond Fear to Action

Scientisting Life: Creation Care Lessons from Biology, Scripture, & Five-Year Olds

The Pope is Right: Creation Care Needs Both Scripture and Science

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Home / Essay Samples / Environment / Environmental Issues / Stewardship of the Earth: Taking Care of God’s Creation

Stewardship of the Earth: Taking Care of God's Creation

Category: Science , Religion , Environment
Topic: Animal Welfare , Christian Worldview , Environmental Issues

Pages: 3 (1497 words)

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What are the causes of the issue, what is the effect of this issue upon society, what does catholic social teaching say about this issue, how do key principles from catholic social teaching apply to this situation, from a christian perspective: what can be done to help solve this issue, is there a clear link or cohesion between cst and scripture, bibliography .

(N/A) “Catholic Social Teaching.” Explore Catholic Social Teaching Principles | End Poverty | Caritas Australia
Amy Doll (2016) “Deforestation.” Prezi.com
(N/A) “About CST.” Catholic Social Teaching
(N/A) “BibleGateway.” BibleGateway.com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and 50 Languages.
Katy (N/A). “Bible Verses on Caring for Creation.” Web of Creation,
(N/A) “13 Bible Verses about Caring For Animals.” 13 Bible Verses about Caring For Animals

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The Importance of Taking Care of God's Creation

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Related Topics

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Why Care for God’s Creation Matters: A Biblical Perspective

Genesis 1–3: The story of creation and the fall

How Jesus restores our relationship with God’s creation

Why care for God’s creation must be a global effort

Care for God’s creation

Grace Ruiter

RCA Commission on Christian Action

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Loving God means caring for his creation

Loving others means caring for creation

Rational hope and taking action

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Stewardship of the Earth: Taking Care of God's Creation

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