Most of you know that my husband is pretty into the environmental movement. When he started his job at Frito Lay (corporate sustainability) he did a lot of research, and thus began his interest with caring about the earth. Of course this interest crossed the work/home barrier and his effort to play his part soon also became my effort to play my part. Guess that’s what happens when you’re married. So we recycle. We compost. We try to turn off lights and keep the water from running unnecessarily. We even have ghetto rainbarrels to collect rainwater (although I did make him put these in the backyard, not the front).
For awhile, I did all of these things somewhat begrudgingly. Because I knew I was supposed to. Because I knew it bothered Matt if I was too lazy to compost my banana peel and instead throw it in the trash. I think this is how many of us feel. We know we probably should care more, and it’s not that we want to hurt the earth, but really, how does one banana peel make much difference?
But thinking about this issue from a Christian perspective, I have slowly started to get it. Matt doesn’t really care about landfills or carbon emissions. He cares about stewarding the gift that God has given us and expects us to take care of. He cares about the complete
thoughtlessness with which we consume, and our attitude of not caring in doing so. God cares about what He created – humans, animals and the earth, so for that very reason, we should too. In not caring, we take away from His glory.
Matt recently spoke at an event at our church called “Is God Green?” He explains it so much better than I can even begin to. Click
here to listen. The first part is Dr. Pierce from Southwestern Seminary teaching what Scripture says about creation care. The last 20 minutes is Matt sharing his story, and then there is a Q&A section. Matt did a great job, and I am thankful that his perspective has helped me understand all this better. Because before (when I didn’t think about it at all), I was totally missing the point.
