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.

ISAIAH 24:4–6

‘It wasn’t me; it was them.’

We’ve all said this at some point in our lives. By nature, we shirk responsibility, shift the blame, bend the truth, and make excuses when things go wrong. It’s been the case since humanity ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Remember what Adam exclaimed when faced with his own sin? He blamed his wife and God saying, ‘The woman you put here with me – she gave me some of the fruit from the tree, and I ate it’ (Genesis 3:12).

Faced with a world that’s breaking at the seams, it’s easy to point the finger at others – to think our gas-guzzling neighbour with a huge Range Rover is responsible for global warming or [insert country’s] indiscriminate use of plastics is why marine biodiversity is dwindling. Or perhaps, like Adam, we think it’s God who needs to fess up.

But listen to the words of Isaiah. Speaking to the Israelites, he said, ‘the earth is defiled by its people’ because they have ‘broken the everlasting covenant’. In other words, they chose not to follow the good commands of the Lord and failed to fulfil their God-given role to ‘tend and keep’ the earth (Genesis 2:15). This prophecy remains pertinent today: we, too, have failed to care for the earth and this has had catastrophic consequences.

Of course, this isn’t a direct cause-and-effect relationship: failing to recycle your milk bottles doesn’t mean a tsunami will hit your city next month. Rather, the collective failure of humanity has caused global breakdown. But just because everyone’s doing it, it doesn’t make it right. So, as uncomfortable as this may feel, invite God to reveal to you the ways in which you’ve failed to care for creation, then confess your sin, ask for his forgiveness, and commit to changing your attitude towards creation care – because, ultimately, it’s out of our hearts that our words and actions flow.

As you begin to think about how you can better live out your God-given calling to care for the environment, personal action is a great place to start. Did you know that emissions from animal-based foods are twice that of plant-based foods? Or that switching from tampons to menstrual cups would mean your carbon impact was 16 times less? God sees these small changes and delights to see his children faithfully joining in his work to restore creation, one veggie meal or reusable product at a time.

—

Sophie Sanders
Marketing & Communications Lead

In what ways can you fulfil your God-given role to cultivate the land in your everyday life? Join the conversation below.

Join us at LICC on 20 June for Wisdom Lab: Everyday Earthkeeping, where four expert speakers will give TED-style talks on how we can care for creation as part of our everyday discipleship. Leading up to the event, read the accompanying blog series by the speakers, on how we can respond wisely to the climate crisis as followers of Jesus.