God cares about planet Earth

29th January 2020


Following those much-reported speeches from Trump and Thunberg at last week’s World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos-Klosters, Ron Skivington shares some thoughts on the issue of caring for the planet
 

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together - Colossians 1:15-17
 
I know that people reading this will be on opposite sides of the global warming / climate change debate, some will be into the war on plastics and others can't see what the fuss is about, some advocate zero carbon emissions as soon as possible, and others only see the cost of necessary changes and question the feasibility and practicality of it ever happening
 
Greenpeace, amongst others, have historically captured headlines with their very visible and disruptive [at times] protests, and now we have Extinction Rebellion and Greta Thunberg in the news over their ways of raising public awareness to concerns that we are doing so much damage to the planet that we are in danger of destroying it completely
 
Throughout the debates and discussions, arguments and suggestions, appeals and promises, two things have become clear to me:
 
Firstly: If any changes and improvements are to happen it will require each of us to make changes to our lifestyles and habits. Are we prepared for inevitable inconveniences - like having to be selective about what we buy, because of how it was grown or produced, about being less throw-away with everything from food to mobile phones, about taking litter home, needing to question is that trip necessary and should we holiday nearer home this year to reduce carbon footprint?  Will we put into practice small things like reducing our temperature settings by 1 degree or say “Yes, all these things could be good ideas but…….” and come up with all sorts of reasons not to bother?
 
The second is: This is God's world. Through Jesus, He designed and created it, and holds it all together. However, He seems to get little air or print time, for while many worship the creation they have lost sight of its creator
 
Our universe is finely tuned and balanced, rather like rows of dominoes all standing upright, but knock one and what you have is the domino effect collapse. The universe is no different - if we were slightly further from or nearer to the sun we would either freeze or be frazzled; if any of the planets were aligned a degree or two off from where they are now, the gravitational pulls etc could be enough to send everything spinning out of control
 
Actually, I am no scientist, but was interested to read about Laminins (the proteins that are found in almost every animal tissue and glue each cell of our bodies to another) - they literally hold us together and they are in the shape of a cross. Many people may not want to believe that, but the cross, in every sense, holds our lives together
 
God who made everything still holds it all together and so although it can look as though everything is out of control, actually He still commands this world’s destiny and no one person or thing can overcome Him. He is vitally interested in our world and the Bible speaks of Him creating a new heaven and earth someday [Revelation 21]
 
But until then, we have the responsibility of acting as its custodians and stewards. It’s not our own best interests that we should consider, but those of the whole of mankind, our world, created by God. That will always give us reasons to be positive, because as He said  in Genesis 8:22 :
 
“As long as the earth continues, there will always be a time for planting and a time for harvest. There will always be cold and hot, summer and winter, day and night on earth”
 
the image above is courtesy of Pixabay.com

this article also appeared on Network Norfolk
 

 

Rev Ron Skivington is Pastor of Stalham Baptist Church
 
 

The views carried here are those of the author, not of Network Yarmouth, and are intended to stimulate constructive and good-natured debate between website users

We welcome your thoughts and comments, posted below, upon the ideas expressed here

Click here to read our forum and comment posting guidelines