GOD'S HARDWARE

Genesis 2:15-20
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." 18 The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." 19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air, and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

My wife hardly ever goes with me to a hardware store. She's afraid I'll embarrass her by my giddy behavior when I see all those new, amazing tools!

Actually, it's not quite that bad, but being in the store does make my head spin with the thoughts of projects I could do and what I'll need to do them. I try to discipline myself to go to places like Home Depot only when I really need to--otherwise I'll come home with a pile of stuff that I just may need someday.

How I approach hardware stores is a lot like the way many of us approach the gifts of the earth: It's just one big storehouse of vast natural resources for people to use.

Some lumber barons treated the great white pine forests of Michigan like that. When they were done, they had made enough boards to cover the entire state--all 96,000 square miles of it!

Sadly, they also destroyed much of the capacity of the land to reforest itself. If they had thought about their responsibility to future generations, they could have prevented the degradation of soil that results from poor forestry practices. The lack of forest cover and the scar they left behind helped create several massive fires. The Great Thumb Fire of 1881 (as in the "thumb" of Michigan's mitten-like shape) raced through more than a million acres in less than a day, killing more than 200 people.

Whatever one thinks about the politics and philosophy of many environmentalists, the truth remains that people are the planet's stewards (Genesis 2:15). Of all the species of living creatures on Earth, human beings are the only "responsible" species. We are the ones who have the power and intellectual capacity to manage the wonderful potential of God's creation gifts. And we can abuse those gifts by carelessness and selfish behavior. Then all creation suffers.

When we degrade the works of the Creator, we come dangerously close to degrading the Creator Himself. --Dean Ohlman

DESTINATION POINTS

* What is the impact of my behavior on the ecological health of the earth?
* How can I treat the earth with more respect?

LINKS:
Celebrating The Wonder Of Creation
http://www.discoveryseries.org/q1108

God's Good Earth
http://www.discoveryseries.org/hp001

bottom line: The earth is the theater of God's glory. --Calvin

soul journey