One of the problems that we, as Christians, often have is that we get focused on a single issue that makes it hard for us to see the wider spectrum of God's heart and God's will. Most of the issues we focus on are important issues and worthy of our attention, prayers, and efforts. But we often get so narrowly focused that we miss other issues that are important to God and, often, are important for us and those who follow us.

One of those issues is the environment and our stewardship of this planet. Now, I am far from being one who would be labeled an environmentalist or "tree-hugger" and I do believe that some fall into the trap of worshipping the creation rather than the Creator. But I also think that, for the most part, we as Christians have turned a blind eye to many environmental concerns for which we are now paying a price - or for which future generations will pay a price (if Jesus tarries). Just a couple of the issues are our dependence on fossil fuels (hence over $3.00 a gallon for gasoline) and the effects of global warming.

There are probably a lot of reasons why we haven't been concerned about these things. I would encourage you to read this article by Andy Crouch in Christianity Today. (I always enjoy Andy's columns. He usually gets me really thinking about issues that I often don't think about.) Also, just meditate on the passages below. God calls us to be stewards of his creation, and I don't think we have always been very good at that. I also find what Paul writes in Romans to be intriguing. Especially the part about creation, in its frustration, is eagerly awaiting for the "sons of God to be revealed." I wonder if creation is waiting for the children of God (us) to step up and take seriously the stewardship which God has entrusted us. That is why I get excited when Christian students take an interest in environmental sciences - in seriously pursuing the stewardship with which we have been entrusted.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Genesis 1:26-28

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Genesis 2:15

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

Romans 8:19-22