Loving God's world - Pt 5 (Loving the people who share the earth with us)

The whole creation is an expression of the glory of God and we see his handiwork in all that he's made. But according to the Bible, the pinnacle of the creation is humankind. We are not just another species, a kind of noxious weed over-populating the earth.

Unlike some environmentalists, Christians who care about the environment do so within a world view that is still radically God-centred, and one that sees humans as occupying a unique and privileged place at the pinnacle of God’s creation.

According to Jesus, the greatest commandment is not that we care for the environment, but that we love God with all our hearts and the second greatest commandment is that we love our neighbour as ourselves. That means that our environmental responsibility is not ultimately an end in itself, but a means toward loving and glorifying God and caring for the welfare of our neighbours (and the people who will inhabit the earth after we're dead).

That has all sorts of implications for us as Christians. It means, for example, that we ought not to let our zeal for the environment overcome the need to show kindness to people. At the local school where Jacob goes, there has been a big push this year to make the school ‘green’. A lot of the ideas are ones I have found quite helpful in terms of analysing my habits and assumptions: for example, there is a day a week where the kids are to bring in a package free lunch (Tidy Tuesday). That’s made me think a bit more critically about how much packaging I really need to use for school lunches. No harm in that!!

But, I’ve also noticed that environmental zeal without the knowledge of the creator can look a bit ugly sometimes. For example, there have been some very public ‘shamings’ of teachers and classes that have broken some of the environmental rules of the school. And interestingly, without a strong foundation of love for God and love for people, the strategy of behaviour change through legalism and competition and public shaming has not actually been all that successful. Most of the environmental campaigns that were so zealous in February have been quietly forgotten and abandoned by October. We need something bigger to live for than just environmental zeal, and as Christians that ‘something bigger’ is love of God and love of our neighbour.

And if our concern for the environment as Christians fits into that bigger picture of a love for others and a love for God and a passion for his glory, then there will be times when the priority of caring for the environment takes second place to other, even higher, concerns.

When I gave this talk, some of the women came up with some good examples of how this might work out in practice. I'd be interested to hear your ideas and examples as well - I await your comments!

Pic 1: Dreamstime
Pic2: Stockxchng