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.”-Genesis 1:26

As Christians I have noticed that we have a tendency to dislike or simply reject anything that is pro-environment. One of the first commands God gives to all mankind, is that we are to look at His example of Eden and make the rest of the planet look like it. We are to steward and take care of what God has made. It is of no disrespect to God when we care for His creation.

How we look at the environment, and climate change may vary. Should we care for the environment so much that it supersedes our creator? No. Like the rest of creation, we do not make an idol of the environment by making it the primary care and focus of our existence. Only God deserves that place in our lives. We often see how things like sports may become idolized. Unfortunately, issues that impact and affect lives can even attain that spot in our hearts too. That may be hard to believe, but it is true. With childhood hunger for instance, it would be wrong to only focus on the physical hunger, when there is a spiritual hunger that exists too. Caring for the environment can be the same. We must balance our priorities and subject them to God’s will and love. When we are not caring for our planet, we are not showing a neighborly love for our current or future generations either. It is also a rejection of our call to be stewards of God’s creation. There can very much be a godly righteousness in caring for the environment.

John Piper compares the attitude we have for our bodies with the attitude we should have for the environment around us. We do not take care of our bodies because we worship our bodies, likewise we do not take care of our environment out of a worship for creation. We take care of the environment and our bodies for the glorification of God.

Not being a stumbling block to others, caring for others.¹¹

“God has, in fact, written two books, not just one. Of course, we are all familiar with the first book he wrote, namely Scripture. But he has written a second book called creation.” ― Francis Bacon