Two by Two

Noah.  You know the story.  Big boat.  Big flood.  Lots of animals.  Rainbow.

Most of the time when you hear the story of Noah the focus is on Noah's faith and obedience to God.  Of course, faith and obedience is a large part of the story of Noah and the flood.  But, let's layer the idea of stewardship on top of that story.

Noah was given a job by God.  He was told to take a male and female of every creature on earth and in the sky into the ark to save them from the destruction of the flood.  God knew that mankind had become wicked and evil but because Noah found favor with God, he was saved.  God knew that creation was still "good" and that it remained innocent of the sins of mankind.  So, God chose a righteous man, Noah, to care for His creatures and keep them safe. 

What's this got to do with you?  God is choosing all of us everyday, just like He chose Noah, to continue that job and care for His creation.  We've inherited Noah's job.  Don't go building an ark or anything.  That's not what I mean.  This is yet another example of God entrusting creation to the stewardship of Man. 

So far we've talked about the goodness of Creation, Adam's dominion over it and now Noah's role in caring for it.  Next week, I will wrap up my discussion of the scriptural reasons for stewardship.  If you initially doubted the biblical basis for ecotheology, hopefully you are beginning to see that it really makes some sense.  Hopefully, you're also starting to change your perspective about the environment and your motivation to care for it.  

Many Blessings,
Laura

Next week:  You want me to do what?? The Parable of the Talents