I gave this devotional before a Faculty Meeting at Eastern Nazarene College on February 16, 2022. Enjoy!
Thank you for the opportunity to serve you all today by giving this devotional. I’d like to share a few thoughts in preparation for next week’s Creation Care Summit today, Next week’s event is sponsored by Nazarenes for Creation Care, and you will have the opportunity to learn more about the theology, science, and practical steps to creation care. If you are interested, please register in advance for all or some part of this special event.
Genesis 1:26-28 – God told them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the oceans …Then God said, “Let us make man in our image after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth (SNAKES, YEAH!!!!). So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. And God blessed them and said to them “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 2:15 – The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to serve and keep it
Let’s just reflect a little bit on why we should care for creation this afternoon. In the first passage I read, it says that God made us in his image and gave us dominion over the earth and its’ creatures.
- I often hear that humans are special because we were made in God’s image, and that somehow that puts us at some level above the rest of the created order.
- It is true that we were made in God’s image and in that sense we serve a special place in creation because no other species bears his image.
- At the same time, he made us just like the animals – we have similar DNA, similar anatomical structures, similar embryonic development, similar biochemistry, and the same basic needs.
- Because of this, we are interconnected with all other living things on this planet – what is often referred to as “the Circle of Life”.
- For this CIRCLE OF LIFE to function, each part of creation has a specific purpose, or niche, or role to play in service to the whole community; this purpose must be fulfilled to make the whole system work. If anyone or anything stands in the way of another’s purpose then the system does not function properly. All life is in this together – we need each other.
Sometimes I think we set ourselves up on a pedestal because we were made in God’s image and given dominion over creation. But let’s look at this from another angle.
Philippians 2:5-8 – Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
- Here we see that Jesus humbled himself and gave up his royalty to come down to Earth and live in community with people and be a servant to all.
- Perhaps in a similar way, we who are made in the image of God need to humble ourselves and be willing to live in right relationship with the biological communities of which we are a part – the flowers and fungi, the squirrels and the raccoons, and yes, even the spiders and snakes. God made them all and said they were good. As they provide for us, we should be willing to serve them with the same heart of compassion and love that God has for his creation (Psalm 145:9).
Finally, in Genesis 2:15, God himself tempered human expectations as he placed Adam and Eve in the garden to keep and serve it.
- The Hebrew word for “keep” is shamar. To keep something means that we maintain it in a good state, or leave it better than we found it – we are to watch over and exercise great care for creation until the Creator returns.
- The Hebrew word for “serve” is abad. To serve creation means we should never take more from the earth than we are willing to give back to it.
- Servanthood is at the very heart of Jesus’ teaching. He said whoever wants to be the greatest must first be a servant. Jesus himself gave up everything to become a servant – he came not to be served but to serve. Are we willing to humble ourselves and become a servant to the rest of creation?
- Often when we humans look at the rest of creation, we are trying to see what benefit we can get out of it. We try to take all that we can get. But do we ever ask what the earth requires in return? Taking without giving is not the mind of Christ. We should be looking at creation through the lens of a servant, finding ways to not only consume, but also to give back.
Let’s pray to close out this devotional.
Tending To the Garden 
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