By Margaret Byfield
(6th in Seven-part series)
In the last article we covered how private property ownership is the system God established through which mankind is to steward His creation. As He set forth this system, He also provided principles that apply to how we are to care for nature. In fact, you can view the Judeo-Christian Bible as the original source for good land management practices.
This is largely because the setting for the Bible is an agrarian society, which means not only are the historical stories predominantly agriculture-related, but Biblical principles are also taught using agrarian examples.
A good illustration is the story of the lost sheep told by Jesus in the Gospels.
12 What do you think? If someone has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, won’t he leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go and search for the stray? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over that sheep more than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. (Matthew 18:12-13)
Jesus uses an example the disciples know to be true—a good shepherd would leave a herd of ninety-nine sheep safely protected in order to find that one lost animal. This comparison helps convey how valuable one lost man is to the kingdom of God. The analogy would not work if the comparison event was not true.
Today, we read that passage for its spiritual application. But we can also learn a practical “stewardship” principle: A good steward of his livestock does not abandon one lost sheep even though he has ninety-nine safely protected. He searches for and protects the most vulnerable of the herd. Thus, we also have a passage describing what a good steward of domestic livestock looks like.
When you read scripture from this perspective, you find that instructions on how to properly steward creation have not been left a mystery. They are clearly articulated and often directly contradict the policies of the conservation agenda.
An interesting search using the AI platform ChatGPT finds that the word “livestock” is mentioned 159 times in the Bible, whereas there is no word in the Bible that translates into the idea of “conservation” or “environmentalism,” both of which call for the protection of nature.
In another illustration, this one found in Ezekiel, God uses pasture management as the example to issue the warning that those who oppress the weak will be judged. From this, we also get the practical lesson that destroying resources unnecessarily, especially for the purpose of preventing others from using those resources, is judgment-worthy.
17 “As for you, my flock,” the Lord God says this: “Look, I am going to judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and goats. 18 Isn’t it enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Or isn’t it enough that you drink the clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? 19 Yet my flock has to feed on what your feet have trampled, and drink what your feet have muddied.” (Ezekiel 34:17-19)
Another good example of this principle can be found in Deuteronomy:
19 When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it in order to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can get food from them. Do not cut them down. Are trees of the field human, to come under siege by you? 20 But you may destroy the trees that you know do not produce food. You may cut them down to build siege works against the city that is waging war against you, until it falls. (Deuteronomy 20:19-20)
This is a wise use of the resources. Don’t pollute the waters. Leave the trees whose purpose is to provide food for mankind, but cut down the trees that can provide structures for the defense of the people. The resources are to be utilized by mankind, but not wasted.
However, today’s conservation movement has taken this to mean that resources must be protected from man and advocates a command-and-control government structure to determine which resources can be used by man, all fueled by an unfounded belief that we are in a climate and ecological crisis.
Good stewardship also requires that we look not only to our needs, but also to the needs of others.
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3-4)
In American law, this principle is incorporated into property nuisance laws that help ensure a landowner’s activities do not infringe on the ability of others to use their land.
We do not want to take matters into our own hands, managing creation from the world’s perspective, forgetting Christ’s promises as we wait for his return.
42 The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible manager his master will put in charge of his household servants to give them their allotted food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes. 44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and starts to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46 that servant’s master will come on a day he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unfaithful. 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will and didn’t prepare himself or do it will be severely beaten.” (Luke 12:42-47)
The physical world was created for mankind’s use. The responsibility God gave us is to wisely utilize the resources and watch over these resources in agreement with the Biblical principles of stewardship. Humans will never fully understand the complexities of the cosmos or physical world, but God knows how all things work—He established them. If we will obediently steward the land His way, He will ensure it always provides our needs.
When Christ returns to this earth, whom will he find you serving: man or the Creator?
In the final installment of the Stewarding Creation series, we will discuss how to identify creation worship in modern culture.
If you want to dig deeper into this topic, you can download the full Stewarding Creation guide here.
Note: All scripture references are from the Christian Standard Bible (CBS) translation.
