COVID-19 is spreading. This pandemic has spread to every part of the world; every single person is being affected by this sickness either directly or indirectly. When a sickness, even the common cold, starts to spread and the symptoms start showing up, people immediately go to the doctor. They immediately desire some relief, some healing, some help. Our Earth has been showing symptoms of sickness for a while now. The beautiful Earth that God created is slowly dying right in front of our eyes. So why are people not jumping at the opportunity to keep our Earth safe and healthy?
The Bible is clear that as Christians we should prioritize the car and well-being of the Earth. Genesis 1:26 says “Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Genesis 2:15 says “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” These verses are a very direct call to every person living on the earth, ‘the garden of Eden’. Over the years, we have been so focused on moving forward and developing as a country and human race that we have neglected our planet. As we have grown and developed automobiles, hairsprays, single use plastics, and other polluting products, our Earth started to regress. We were so excited to have travel and easily gotten rid of products at our fingertips that we were blinded to the cries and the pain of our land.
When Jesus was asked about the most important thing a person can do, He replied saying “the second is this: ‘You should love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:31). The call in this verse to love our neighbors seems simple at first glance. Going deeper into this verse and its meaning shows a complexity that is easily missed by many. A neighbor involves any human or non-human creature that we have contact with or have an impact on. The choices we make in our every day lives impact both the present and future living creatures on this Earth. If we let our planet continue to regress not only will we have a vastly different and unhealthy future for ourselves, our future generations will have an even more unhealthy and unstable future.
So how can we make a difference? If our leader will not act, we need to hold them accountable and educate them to care for God’s creation seriously and personally. God created the Earth and made us to be its stewards. We have a responsibility to take care of and serve the land that we are borrowing from our Creator. Every single person in office, both state and federal, need to prioritize the climate change crisis. Our planet has a voice, but it is silent to those who choose not to listen. Educating our leaders about the necessity to listen to our planet and its cries for help is the key step.
