The future of God's Creation, and the humans that populate this planet, is in the hands of politicians and corporations / stockholders, but more than anybody else, it's in the hands of the current and future leaders of our churches and ordinary Christians.
© 2009 Donna L. Watkins - Tufted Titmouse Bathing
It's possible that Christians are the only hope for our environmental crisis because we are the children of the Artist of it all.
What heritage have we been leaving future generations? Not only with the conditions in our own country, but how our choices affect the world. When we pass laws to prevent corporations from discharging poisonous chemicals into our waters and ecosystems, those corporations turn around and develop a base in another country that has no such laws or protections for their people.
When you choose a brand name for a purchase, do you care whether the company uses sweatshops (slave and child labor) in other countries to produce it? Do you care if the production of the item is killing the very people making it because environmental and safety controls are non-existent in many foreign factories? Some of these people are Christians, so when we do not consider these things, we are persecuting those of our own faith and family.
Why are Christians so out of touch with what Creation was meant to be to us? I believe it's because we are out of touch with God. We do many religious things and proclaim salvation, but do we have the close abiding moment-by-moment relationship that Christ says we can have when He is in us and we are in Him? Do we live as a branch grafted into The Vine?
There is no reverence for God or His Word or His Handiwork because we have sold out to wanting our own way. We buy things we do not need with credit cards (money we don't have) and most often it's just to impress people we really don't care about. The steel clouds of debt blanket our country and overshadow our lives with darkness.
We have a ton of stuff, but no peace or joy that surpasses understanding. We show no evidence that our inner lives are better off than the unsaved. When our minds begin to grasp the enormous issue of debt we have created, we want to say that God has not provided. How many of your purchases do you pray about? When you see something you want, do you talk to God about it? We do not restrain our desires or consider the future in these moments, but we accuse God when we reap the consequences of what we have sown. The law of the harvest (sowing and reaping) will occur like gravity. It's an established law. God doesn't have to be involved. We need to take responsibility for our own actions and choices.
How long ago did your Light stop shining? Have you ever lived in the Light? Many churches do not take Christ's command in Matthew 28:19 is: "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."
Notice He says to make disciples. It doesn't say go around the world and save people. We are to be disciples. Salvation is a necessary step, but Christ focused on the only way we would be able to sustain a relationship with Him. So many churches focus on how many people were saved, but where are the numbers for how many are disciples of Christ?
When we value His Word and instructions and commands on spiritual living, we will be full of peace, joy and grace that pours into those around us. When we don't have that kind of relationship what do we have to offer a hurting world? We get so me-focused that relationships crumble and lives shatter. We need to go back to The Garden lifestyle of walking and talking with God throughout the day.
All things were created by Him and for Him (Genesis 1:16) so we should honor His work. The Garden was the first temple of worship. A temple being a place where we go to meet God. As those of you who enjoy nature know ... God is still very present in the gardens and forests and by the seas of our world.
What does debt have to do with Creation? It's the consumeristic lifestyles we have established that have ruined His Creation. Psalm 104 declares His glory within His Creation. Verse 24 says, "How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom You made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures." In His wisdom He made them all. Should we care when one of them goes extinct? The corporate world laughs at laws that protect wildlife and what He has created, as if nothing could possibly be more important than their personal desires.
Where do you stand on God's Creation? Do you believe His wisdom is greater than ours? His wisdom 'made them all' so should we use wisdom to protect them all? God can speak to us ways of doing things that will allow productivity and preservation of what He has made. Who is asking for that wisdom? God still speaks to man? George Washington Carver discovered 300 uses for the peanut. He also gave God credit for his wisdom. That wisdom is still available for the asking.
Related Article:
Destroying God's Art
This website is sponsored by The Herbs Place, distributor of Nature's Sunshine herbs, supplements, essential oils and more at wholesale prices.
The photo(s) and article are copyrighted. You may use either of them if you include the following credit and active link back to this website:
© 2010 Donna L. Watkins - This article was reprinted with permission from TheNatureInUs.com. The link to use is: www.TheNatureInUs.com.
What heritage have we been leaving future generations? Not only with the conditions in our own country, but how our choices affect the world. When we pass laws to prevent corporations from discharging poisonous chemicals into our waters and ecosystems, those corporations turn around and develop a base in another country that has no such laws or protections for their people.
When you choose a brand name for a purchase, do you care whether the company uses sweatshops (slave and child labor) in other countries to produce it? Do you care if the production of the item is killing the very people making it because environmental and safety controls are non-existent in many foreign factories? Some of these people are Christians, so when we do not consider these things, we are persecuting those of our own faith and family.
Why are Christians so out of touch with what Creation was meant to be to us? I believe it's because we are out of touch with God. We do many religious things and proclaim salvation, but do we have the close abiding moment-by-moment relationship that Christ says we can have when He is in us and we are in Him? Do we live as a branch grafted into The Vine?
There is no reverence for God or His Word or His Handiwork because we have sold out to wanting our own way. We buy things we do not need with credit cards (money we don't have) and most often it's just to impress people we really don't care about. The steel clouds of debt blanket our country and overshadow our lives with darkness.
We have a ton of stuff, but no peace or joy that surpasses understanding. We show no evidence that our inner lives are better off than the unsaved. When our minds begin to grasp the enormous issue of debt we have created, we want to say that God has not provided. How many of your purchases do you pray about? When you see something you want, do you talk to God about it? We do not restrain our desires or consider the future in these moments, but we accuse God when we reap the consequences of what we have sown. The law of the harvest (sowing and reaping) will occur like gravity. It's an established law. God doesn't have to be involved. We need to take responsibility for our own actions and choices.
How long ago did your Light stop shining? Have you ever lived in the Light? Many churches do not take Christ's command in Matthew 28:19 is: "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."
Notice He says to make disciples. It doesn't say go around the world and save people. We are to be disciples. Salvation is a necessary step, but Christ focused on the only way we would be able to sustain a relationship with Him. So many churches focus on how many people were saved, but where are the numbers for how many are disciples of Christ?
When we value His Word and instructions and commands on spiritual living, we will be full of peace, joy and grace that pours into those around us. When we don't have that kind of relationship what do we have to offer a hurting world? We get so me-focused that relationships crumble and lives shatter. We need to go back to The Garden lifestyle of walking and talking with God throughout the day.
All things were created by Him and for Him (Genesis 1:16) so we should honor His work. The Garden was the first temple of worship. A temple being a place where we go to meet God. As those of you who enjoy nature know ... God is still very present in the gardens and forests and by the seas of our world.
What does debt have to do with Creation? It's the consumeristic lifestyles we have established that have ruined His Creation. Psalm 104 declares His glory within His Creation. Verse 24 says, "How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom You made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures." In His wisdom He made them all. Should we care when one of them goes extinct? The corporate world laughs at laws that protect wildlife and what He has created, as if nothing could possibly be more important than their personal desires.
Where do you stand on God's Creation? Do you believe His wisdom is greater than ours? His wisdom 'made them all' so should we use wisdom to protect them all? God can speak to us ways of doing things that will allow productivity and preservation of what He has made. Who is asking for that wisdom? God still speaks to man? George Washington Carver discovered 300 uses for the peanut. He also gave God credit for his wisdom. That wisdom is still available for the asking.
Related Article:
Destroying God's Art
This website is sponsored by The Herbs Place, distributor of Nature's Sunshine herbs, supplements, essential oils and more at wholesale prices.
The photo(s) and article are copyrighted. You may use either of them if you include the following credit and active link back to this website:
© 2010 Donna L. Watkins - This article was reprinted with permission from TheNatureInUs.com. The link to use is: www.TheNatureInUs.com.
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