Reign

Reign

Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

“WE DON’T RECYCLE,” she said, tossing the aluminum cans into the trash. “God gave us the earth, and since this is temporary, we can do what we want.”

“Don’t we have a responsibility to take care of what God has entrusted us with?” I asked.

“We won’t be around long enough for it to matter. Jesus will return before it’s a problem.”

Her words, spoken to a far younger version of myself when I wasn’t entirely sure what I believed about God, left me puzzled. While we have hints about the timing of Christ’s return, Scripture is clear that God alone knows the day and time. In fact, everyone who has predicted Christ’s imminent return over the last roughly two thousand years has been wrong. Already struggling in my faith, I wondered why Christians would be so blasé in refusing to recycle, so certain Christ’s return was within their lifetime or their children’s lifetime.

As the years have passed, I’ve returned to that conversation periodically, replaying it and the inherent arguments underlying her position as my own faith has grown and matured.

Everything belongs to God—all of creation, every possession we consider ours, even our bodies (see 1 Corinthians 6:19). As Creator, he granted us the authority to reign over all of the earth, entrusting it to us, allowing us the freedom to use its resources, to enjoy its beauty, to oversee it as we see fit. The earth is his creation, but we reign. We control the earth’s resources, but we also have responsibility for its care.

We can be both followers of Christ and good stewards of the earth, regardless of what political parties or extreme views from the right or the left might try to tell us. To reign is to have responsibility, and to reign over the earth is to be entrusted with a precious, beautiful resource not only for us, but for our children’s children’s children, for as long as we wait for Jesus’ return.

Lord, may we be good stewards of all the resources you have entrusted to us, including the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over all of the earth. Amen.

-Julie

One Good Step: Choose one new habit to make you a better steward of the earth and do it.