“Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail. ” (Isaiah 51:6, NIV)

There is a lot of attention on the environment these days.  Don’t get me wrong–I am not opposed to environmental conservation and stewardship.  But I do have one concern.  I think the attention paid to the environment is disproportionate to other things that matter.  Because we live in a society with a secular worldview that believes that all we have is all there is, or ever will be, they militantly meet at the battle lines of ozone layers and carbon footprint.  We are viewed as a species that is killing the planet, and soon, we will push ourselves into extinction.

A couple thoughts:  First, we are the crown of creation and God created the world for us.  We are certainly supposed to be wise stewards of what He has given us, but we can’t view ourselves as leeches that are sucking the life out of the earth.  The earth was created so we could have life!  Secondly, this is all winding down.  The earth as we know it is going to go away.  There is going to be a new heaven and a new earth.  These are truths we cannot ignore.  Only God’s salvation and His righteousness will last forever.

So what is disproportionate?  Well, give yourself a test this week.  Compare the amount of time and energy you spend in preserving this earth to the amount of time you spend in preserving your relationship with the God of your salvation.  Please make sure that the latter outweighs the former.

Peace!

Pastor Tom

www.firmlyrooted.church