Beloved in Christ,
Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We celebrate the “day of ecology’” in the month of June. A man cane to Buddha and asked him for a way of life and deliverance. He just took him to a river. The man thought he was going to be baptized or purified. But that did not happen. He just pushed his head in to water. He was gasping for breath. “ When you thought you were going to be drowned, what did you desire most? “ the Buddha asked. “Air” the man replied. Buddha said “ when you want salvation as much as you wanted the breath, you will get it .”
After God had finished creating all other things, 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. ( Genesis 1: 26) This dominion mandate thus makes a clear distinction between mankind and all the rest of creation, for only man and women were created in the image of God and were given control “over all the earth” This dominion, however, was not to be a totalitarian despotism, but a stewardship under God, responsible to God for its care, “ for the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness there of ”. (Psalm 24:1) God does care for His creation , He is not capricious. He is omniscient and omnipotent and has a divine purpose in every thing He created. Before sin and death came in to the world, God placed Adam in the garden of Eden and told him “to dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Then he and Eve were told later that they were to “ be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it.” The clear implication was that as the population expanded to fill the earth, his descendents were to “dress and keep” there own respective parts of the earth just as Adam was caring for his. The work of subduing the earth would involve learning to understand all its processes and all its creatures, for the benefit of mankind and for the glory of God.
The mandate is still in effect today. It applies to all descendants of Adam and Eve, but is even more important for Christians, because we , who have been saved, have come to know the Lord not only in His work as the World’s creator, but also as the world’s redeemer.
May God bless you all
Yours in Christ,
Rev. C. C. Sabu
