On April 22, we will observe the 46th celebration of “Earth Day.” This day started as an effort to increase awareness about environmental issues and encourage mankind to better care for our earthly home.
Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day, once said: “The fate of the living planet is the most important issue facing mankind.” The Earth Day Network, which is the organization responsible for coordinating Earth Day activities, encourages us to maintain “a healthy environment and a peaceful, just, sustainable world by spreading environmental awareness.”
Our Planet Is a Gift
While the Earth Day Network is not a Christian organization, the ideas it promotes certainly fit in with a biblical view of creation. While we may not totally agree that the fate of the planet is the most important issue facing us today, the condition of Earth is certainly something we should be concerned with. Christians and Earth Day should be a natural cooperation. We should value our planet more than anyone else because we believe it was divinely created.
In Genesis, God makes it clear that he is giving Adam dominion over the world. Adam is in charge of everything — the plants, the animals, all of it. Why would God have done this if He didn’t intend for Adam to take care of his home? And why would God have made such a flawless garden in the first place if He did not value beauty and purity?
Our earthly home is a gift, and we should care for it as the precious treasure it is.
What We Can Do
You likely already know several steps you can take to help maintain our planet. Invest in a recycling program for any of your trash that could be made into something new. Take care with your home utilities, like electricity and water, using only the minimum that you need. Conserve gasoline in your car by running errands in clusters instead of going out for each one individually.
The point is that Christians and Earth Day go together like peanut butter and jelly. And really, if we believe that God created this planet specifically for us, every day should be Earth Day.
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