After the Summer-holiday thinking even more about God’s creation

During the summer, lots of us have been away on holidays, enjoying nature in different ways: on beaches, walking the hills, visiting beautiful gardens or just enjoying the countryside, at home or abroad. It’s so easy to take this all for granted, but in these days we are probably more alert than ever before to how we humans are damaging the environment, polluting the oceans with plastics and releasing damaging emissions that are contributing to global warming. We know that it’s important to do what we can, in small ways, to minimize our own impact.

As people return from summer holiday or hanging out in the park, beach or backyard, to the routines of their lives and responsibilities, they should have their eyes opened to the reality of life and having come to see that man can not go on like he is doing today. The present world has to focus on the appalling condition of the air we breathe and on how everywhere around us we can find rubbish not belonging here. We can not keep ignoring the state in which mankind brings nature and his own living quarters. We must be aware of the impact of the air and land pollution. Poor air quality caused 412,000 premature deaths in Europe in 2016, the most recent year data is available, according to a report released this week by the European Environment Agency (EEA).

As followers of Christ we should, like him, be a lover of God and His masterworks. Often we hear that Christadelphians should not be politically involved. That does not mean we should not worry and should not react on what is going on. As followers of Christ we may not be inactive and not come up for those who have no voice. We do have to protect the poor and bereaved ones. We should be a voice and come up for those who cannot defend themselves.
As Christians and children of God we should nurture that what God has given to mankind.

One of the places we encounter Jehovah God very powerfully is in His creation, where He is wonderfully present. The Psalmist said:

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens…
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (Psalm 8)

Like the Psalmist, we marvel at God’s handiwork and how He has filled the world with life, where everything was made perfectly ‘according to its kind’, and where nature left to itself is precisely balanced to sustain life on this precious blue planet.

But as the forest fires continue to burn in the Amazon rainforest – the earth’s ‘lungs’ – and the news is full of stories of the effects of pollution and global warming, we are reminded again of how precious this earth is and how vulnerable it is to our greed, thoughtlessness and neglect.

When God first created this earth and everything in it, we’re told

“God saw everything he had made and behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31).

And God then entrusted the earth to mankind, putting Adam in the garden to “work it and to keep it.” (Genesis 2:15). That word ‘keep’ is from a Hebrew word which carries the sense of protecting, guarding and preserving. So this tells us that we are stewards of God’s creation; it provides for our needs — for food, warmth, shelter and so on — but it is also our responsibility to care for it and not simply to exploit it selfishly, regardless of the consequences.

It is not because it is such a long time ago that the world was created and God gave the task to Adam and Eve, that this task should not be taken up by us. We should show respect for the creation and show to God and those around us that we love that what God has given to us to care for.

Not only should we care for that beautiful creation. We have to recognize the Maker of all things and praise God for his beautiful creation. What a wonderful world he has created for us.

We also should pray that we will do what we can to be good stewards of the earth, until the day comes when we are promised that He will restore it and fill it completely with the glory of His Might and Presence.

Lord of life, creator of all,
we praise you and thank you for the beauty of creation.
We thank you for this earth,
for its richness and variety.
Forgive us for our neglect,
for our carelessness and ignorance,
May we learn to be better stewards of your creation
and to live well and gently on the earth.
We ask this through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the firstborn of all creation.
Amen
(Anon.)

Prayer theme for this month

– praise God for his wonderful creation
– and pray that we will be good stewards of his earth

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Find also to read

1. The natural beauties of life
2. Human beings and creation
3. First man’s task still counting today
4. Taking care of mother earth
5. Warning! Hot Weather?
6. Temperatures rising
7. Freshwater, marine and coastal pollution
8. 2014 To remember our Earth
9. 2015 Summit of Consciences for the Climate
10. Tackling the pollution challenge
11. Shared inheritance plus integral and integrating vision
12. Air-conditioning treath and HFCs extremely powerful heat-trappers
13. Senator Loren Legarda says climate change not impossible to address
14. Global warming a solution Global Warming and what an Individual can do about it – Swami Dayananda Saraswati
15. How We Can Make the World a Better Place by 2030
16. Stepping forward with public commitments for Making different sectors carbon neutral by 2050
17. Reducing effects of environmental disasters
18. The European Union – the environmental challenges and your voice
19. Winter and Spring wonders of nature showing the Master’s Hand

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