Does This Even Matter?

Hard Questions I am Not Straying Away From

I am a Christian but sometimes don't want to tell you because then you will put me in a box filled with Trump supporters, anti-abortion protesters and that awful lady you met who told you that you're going to hell. I definitely will not stray from telling you Jesus is the Lord of my life, but I may waver on labels because, sometimes, I don't like so-called Christians, either.

I love nature. I will be in absolute awe of a hummingbird, lose my mind over a rainbow and happily wander through the forest. My happy place? My garden, of course.

But that's not spiritual enough for some.

You're not supposed to love nature, love God! Hate this world! Don't be apart of it! Then, for good measure, they will quote the Bible out of context.

The love I have for a hummingbird is different than the love I have for my children. Different than the love I have for my husband and certainly different than the love I have for God.

I serve a God who walked with his creation in the cool of the day in The Garden of Eden. I worship a savior who escaped to the wilderness to be alone with God.

I was made by a creative God, who also created plants, animals and heavenly bodies. I don't worship creation, but I sure do love to be a part of it.

I've wrestled with the question, does this matter if in the end, the world as we know it, burns away? If you're unfamiliar with Bible theology, in the end times, the world as we know it will be burned, and a new heaven and earth will come down out of heaven and that is where we, as God's children, will live with Him for all of eternity. Free of sin and united with Christ forever and ever.

At first, the thought of the world being burned, kind of made me sad. I thought about all the beautiful things of this Earth. Here is what I was not understanding: The type of fire that God will use to burn the Earth is a purifying sort of fire. All evil and corruption will be destroyed, melted away. Imagine intense heat used to purify gold. The gold was there the whole time, but all the crud stuck has to go.

So that leaves me with the question, does what I'm doing matter to God? Should I care about planting native plants and supporting wildlife when in the end, the real end, the world as we know it will pass away?

I think the weight of that question presses on the minds of many and is why there are Christians out there who drag their feet or reluctantly talk of anything conservation or environment related. They think that it's too near sighted to focus on the Earth's physical condition when there are spiritual wars to be fought. I resist that thinking because God does care about his creation. Not a single sparrow hits the ground without his knowledge, the Bible tells me (Matt 10:29). And get this: In Romans 8:22-23 it says, "We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves.. as we wait for the redemption of our bodies."

This is absolutely amazing and hard to even imagine. All of creation knows they are not living the way God intended. Creation is waiting for full redemption just as we wait! Instead of thinking that the land I stand on will be no more, I replace that with the land I stand on will be restored.

Heaven come down from Earth!

If you have seen Moana, the scene where the heart is returned and the island is restored to a beautifully lush, abundant environment reminds me of what God promises to do. As amazing as that scene in Moana was, I know what God does will be better.

We are told in whatever we do, do it all for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Glory means to basically, point to God. When I'm eating dinner, I point to God, who is my provider. When I am caring for my children, I point to God by raising them to love Him. Bringing glory to something means to shine a light on, point to, or magnify by your actions. I really don't believe a person can point to God when they are pouring poison on farmland or mistreating animals.

That brings me to another popular Christan arguing point I take issue with: I've heard Christians argue their actions by saying that God gave humans dominion, so we can rule over creation how we see fit.

The exact Bible verse is found in Genesis 1:26-28 "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

The thing is, most are forgetting the first part of what God said. After our likeness. Jesus tells us plain and simple in Matthew 20:25 what his likeness looks like:

"But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."

Well look at that-- we are to serve and minister. We are not supposed to extort, strip, and perverte the resources put on this planet.

In Genesis, God commanded Adam to tend and care for the garden. So, that's what I will do. I'm certainly not in Eden, but I will care and tend to what God has placed in my hands.

Glory be to God.