Worshiping God by Protecting His Creation

There’s a brutal heat wave gripping the U.S. right now. Roads are buckling. Cities are breaking temperature records. And summer is only beginning.

What was once called “unprecedented” has become unsettlingly routine. According to NOAA, the past nine years have been the warmest on record globally, with 2023 seeing the highest global ocean temperatures ever measured. We are watching the world groan and still, many churches stay silent.

Why is that?

Often, Christians have dismissed environmental care as political, secondary, or irrelevant to the Gospel. But perhaps we’ve misread the story. Maybe we’ve been starting in the wrong place.

The Gospel Begins with a Garden

“In the beginning…” Those first three words launch the grand narrative of Scripture. But too often, we skip ahead right past Genesis 1 and 2 to Genesis 3 and the fall. Sin becomes our starting point. The Gospel becomes mostly about fixing what went wrong. But God’s Word doesn’t begin with brokenness. It begins with beauty.

Before there was a fall, there was a garden. Before there was exile, there was intimacy. Before there was rebellion, there was a calling: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15, NIV).

Caring for the earth wasn’t an afterthought. It was the very first assignment. It wasn’t punishment; it was purpose.

A Lopsided Gospel

When we start the story at Genesis 3, we frame our faith as a sin-management system. Salvation becomes about escaping Earth, not redeeming it. But when we begin with Genesis 1, a different vision emerges one of responsibility, stewardship, and sacred calling.

In Genesis 1:28, God commands humanity to “fill the earth and subdue it.” That word “subdue” has often been misused as a license to dominate. But in the Hebrew context, it implies bringing order, cultivating goodness, and reflecting God’s nature as a wise and loving ruler.

Environmental care isn’t about idolizing creation. It’s about imitating the Creator.

We Abandoned the Garden

For much of church history, particularly in Western evangelical circles, environmentalism has been sidelined. The focus on saving souls led many to neglect saving the soil literally. The logic often went: “Why worry about a dying planet if we’re just passing through?”

But that thinking requires us to ignore large swaths of Scripture. The Bible doesn't say that Earth is disposable. In fact, it says the opposite.

Psalm 24:1 declares, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” Revelation envisions not a heavenly escape, but a renewed creation. Romans 8 tells us that “the whole creation has been groaning” in longing for restoration. God is not throwing Earth away. He’s redeeming it and inviting us into the work.

The Planet Is Groaning

Today, the signs of misuse and neglect are undeniable. The United Nations estimates that over 1 million species are at risk of extinction due to human activity. Pollution is poisoning water systems. Heatwaves are becoming longer and more intense, threatening the vulnerable. Forests are being lost at alarming rates. These are not just statistics they are symptoms of a deeper spiritual ailment: our disconnection from our calling as caretakers.

And yet, many Christians remain on the sidelines. We debate whether it’s worth it. But Scripture already answered that. It is worth it because God says so.

Creation Care Is Worship

Environmental stewardship is not a modern political cause. It’s a biblical mandate. When we care for the earth, we are not elevating creation above God we are honoring the Creator by valuing what He made. It’s an act of worship, a demonstration of gratitude, and a testimony to the world of God's original design.

Paul writes in Colossians 1:20 that God is “reconciling to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood.” That reconciliation includes souls and soil. It includes people and the planet. The Gospel is not just personal; it is cosmic.

Reclaiming Our Role

It’s time for the Church to reclaim its God-given role. Not out of guilt. Not for political gain. But because we are image-bearers of a Creator who delights in His creation. As followers of Jesus, we are not called to exploit the world but to reflect God’s love for it.

The call to creation care is woven into the fabric of our faith. It is not a detour. It is the road we were meant to walk. To steward the Earth is to echo the voice of God in Genesis 1, who looked at all He had made and called it “very good.”

What We Do Now Matters

The future is not yet written. Scripture does not point us toward fatalism but hope. The story didn’t start with destruction and it doesn’t have to end that way either. What we do now, how we live, what we prioritize it matters. Not just for us, but for generations to come.

Caring for the Earth is not optional. It’s essential. It’s sacred. It’s worship.

It’s time we returned to the garden.

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