53 – Brother’s Keeper, Earth’s Steward

Help.

When you see trash on the ground, pick it up. You don’t always need to, but if there’s something in the road and it’s not normal—and if it’s safe to do so—get it out of the road. If you can’t, call the local police and let them know so the right people can handle it.

This is your world. God is watching your stewardship of it. If you want to be responsible for more things then act like it!

Wanting responsibility isn’t bad; God made us to have responsibility. Our human desire for power starts out young, but if we put that desire to good use then we will mature into kind, caring, compassionate leaders to whom God gives authority and influence so that we can help many more people.

After Cain murdered his brother Abel, God questioned Cain as to his brother’s whereabouts. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain answered sarcastically—and likely from shame of his brother being dead at his own hands. The answer to Cain’s rhetorical question is, “Yes, we are our brothers’ keepers.”

If you take responsibility to help wherever you can, then God will see that you took that responsibility and He will let you keep it.

We should help each other, and accordingly help keep Earth clean. We did not create Earth and we cannot destroy it. But, we can make ourselves sick.

Interestingly, many of the things we do to pollute Earth—not all, of course—only make humans sick. Look at Chernobyl and arsenic for example. Oil spills destroy local areas, but the ocean has microorganisms that eat oil to sustain their lives.

Caring for Earth is not about loving Earth, but simply being good stewards—helping other people in need of air that won’t make them sick. Love each other, worship God, and, as an outflow of those two, keep Earth tidy and clean. This is the Biblical perspective of a godly ethic called Stewardship.

There are many movements within humanity to address the environment and charity. The Bible already has a teaching on this and it is both unique and supreme: God gave us Earth and we all belong to Him.

Genesis 1:26-31; 4:1-16, 1 Thessalonians 5:15