The Need for Care and Compassionate Use of Earth’s Resources

There is need for us to recognize how important our environment is. It is the platform or foundation on which we live. If we do not take care of our environment we will all suffer for it, hence it is the joint responsibility of everyone to contribute to the sustenance of our environment.

We should take cognizance of the way we use earth resources because they are limited, they will not continue to be available forever, which is, water, gas, oil, trees, animals, forests, air, etc. Many people use these things as if they are unlimited in supply. Many species of animals, birds, fish, plants, and other organisms have gone into extinction as a result of this, yes many do not realize that they need to change in the way they use earth resources.

God created all of these resources for our use, and He even make them in a way that they can be regenerated if they get exhausted, but the truth of the matter is that the rate at which they are being depleted far outpaces the rate at which they are being regenerated. Many times, regeneration can take up to over hundreds of thousands of years before it fully takes place, hence many of these resources will never be allowed to get regenerated.

The earth and all its available resources are being used without any respect for the law of nature. Many people don’t find it difficult to believe there is God, but they don’t understand that He who created the earth wants us to use it in His way.

We need to ‘see’ God in our environment because He is not restricted to heaven alone. He is in the trees of the forest, among the animals in the bush or fishes of the sea. The works of Jesus are not restricted to saving souls alone, but to reconciling all things to God.

The time has come for us to begin to do what God created us for, that of care and compassionate use of the earth. God gave to Adam the special task of continuing the beautification of earth by making use of its resources in the way ordained by God. We are descendants of Adam and the same task extends to us. We need to harness the potentials in the oceans, forests, sky and other available places and use them for God’s glory.

When we use earth resources in a way that problems like pollution, oil spillage, killing of wildlife results, we are doing the damages directly to Jesus.

If God who created the earth is still sustaining and investing in it till today, it only shows that He values His creation, and if He has put us in charge; to dominate, to multiply, and to subdue the earth, then it also means that He holds us with high regard.

If we hold a special position in the creation of God, if the Almighty can entrust us to keep and care for His creation, then we too should reciprocate back by appreciating Him for it.

We should devote our lives to worship, serve, and obey Him all the days of our lives, at least for the earth’s resources that He has given to us.

A day for this purpose has been set aside already, it is called the creation day, and it falls on the first Sunday of March of every year. It is a day that we all ought to offer praise and worship to God in recognition of His great love for us, but unfortunately many do not know about this day talk less of giving it the recognition it deserves.

Here we are pushing forward the idea of making this Day of Creation a fully recognized holiday, and will like you to join us just by registering here.

Little Things you can do to Save the Earth

You might be wondering how little things you do can have any significant effect on our big earth.

the truth of the matter is that what you are doing that is depleting earth resources are the things that countless others are doing in various places where they are located, hence if your activities are less significant, by the time you add up what others are doing it becomes very alarming.

When you try to change your ways you have reduced these harmful activities by a little amount, and you have also pave the way for others around you who you can reach to hear from you how they too can save the earth.

Seriously speaking, the earth is reeling in pain, under various unhealthy, environmentally hazardous activities that individuals and corporate organizations are doing today.

Activities like; driving automobiles, running industrial machines, mining, fishing, killing wildlife, cutting down natural vegetation, etc. are actually killing the earth but you can help reduce them by doing the following on daily basis or as occasion demands, and you can also help to tell others to do them.

Take note of how you use water. Do not leave your water tap open while you do not actually need the water and in particular fix every leaking pipe in your house to prevent wastage, go for tap water when you need to drink and not the bottled version so that you will prevent littering the environment with disposable plastics.

According to EPA when you keep your car off the road just for 2 days in a week, you will reduce greenhouse gas emission by about 1,590 pounds annually. This you can do if you combine all your trips together, use bike or mass transit transportation system.

Encourage recycling by opting for products that has less packaging. A company with 7,000 workers who recycled her office paper wastes for a year will reduce greenhouse gas emission by the same amount that will result when 400 cars are taken off the road.

Reduce the amount of solid wastes you are generating to help reduce the amount of space these wastes are occupying in landfills overtime.

Above all of these points, you have to love people that are living around you. This is the most important thing you have to do if you must save the earth.

When you love your neighbor you will not do any evil against the fellow, talk of murder, lying, fighting, stealing, etc. all of these brings upon us God’s wrath making our earth vulnerable to His judgment.

You may be thinking that the wrong things you are doing are insignificant, but think of what results will come up when we combine that of others in other places on earth.

To save the earth you must recognize the one who created it, understand the reason why He did that, and also His guidelines for living on earth.

The earth is much more that a physical creation, the maker, God Almighty is watching over it to preserve it, you must be in agreement with this God if you want to enjoy the earth.

Have you heard of the day of creation, it is a day set aside to recognize God, if we all give this day the recognition it deserves we shall surely save the earth.

The Ocean as a Channel of God’s Blessing

We often thank God for His provisions and for the evidence of His grace in our lives. Most of the time, however, we forget to thank Him for the blessings we get from nature and His other creation. Our busy lives rob us of the opportunity to bask in the glorious abundance of the land and the seas that surround us. We are content with worshipping God in the comforts of our own home or our church, and we fail to appreciate the fact that God meticulously created nature for us to enjoy and take care of.

The moment we confine ourselves to routine and forget about our duty to take care of nature, we also neglect the fact that we are responsible for the massive damage that nature is experiencing right now. In particular, our oceans are in dire need of protection and conservation. Marine life diversity is in constant danger because of the pollution and harmful chemicals that are dumped in the ocean daily. Directly or indirectly, we have played a major role in the ocean’s devastation – something that has already been happening even in biblical times.

This can be seen in Isaiah 24:4-6;

“The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the heavens languish with the earth. The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.”

Our Biblical Mandate to Care for the Ocean

One of the reasons why God created man is for him to be able to rule over all creations.

In Genesis 1:26, God said;

“…Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

We should honor God and obey the mandate He gave us by making sure that we are able to take care of all His creation, including the ocean.It is never too late to include ocean stewardship in the daily cross that we have to bear.

Yes, we can honor God by singing praises to Him. We can obey His commands by sharing the gospel to others. But we must also be burdened by the responsibility to take care of the ocean so we can continue to enjoy all the blessings that God has prepared for us through the vast bodies of water that He has created.

We do not have to leave our jobs or our ministry. Little things that we do on a daily basis can greatly contribute to our collective effort to protect our ocean and marine life from further damage and destruction. By being involved in community campaigns and petitions to celebrate creation and protect our environment, we are already pleasing God in our own little way.

Join us in the upcoming celebration of Creation Day. Click here to find out more about Creation Day 2015.