Why do we bother with sustainable living?

When my wife and I started to really get serious about changing our lives to live more sustainably, one thought seemed to consistently creep into my head:  If I can ignore the sustainable living patterns we identified; changes that will alter our lifestyle, change how we look at our livelihoods and impact our entire family for better or worse… that would be acceptable.  Not only acceptable, but definitely reasonable for me to handle and maybe the only “sustainable thing” we can control. So I asked my wife: “Why should we bother with sustainable living?”  I am not sure if she gave me an answer, or at least I do not remember the answer, but I decided the easiest thing for me to do, was start small.  Family time.  We decided to start reading in bed every night after the kids were in bed—for me a major step forward as I can remember only 3 books I actually ever finished in my lifetime.   The book I picked was Decision Points by former President George W Bush.  I had heard an interview that the former president had with I believe James Dobson.  I was intrigued by his resolve to make decisions that would have a positive impact on his life as a whole, affecting all aspects of his life.  One thing he talked about was reading through the Bible.  It wasn’t the first time, but he said he matured and wanted to see if his perspective had changed since he was more mature.  Since I was so obviously more mature since I last read through the Bible, I thought that was a great idea.  So I started out again, at the beginning, to read the Bible. This time though I would keep in mind all the discussions I had regarding sustainable living.  I quickly was reminded of how little control I actually had.

We are called to be stewards.

In Genesis 1, God talks of us ruling over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures - God has made us rulers over the rest of His creation.  Since we were created in the image of the diving King, it was delegated authority that was bestowed on us.  We were told to go forth under this divine benediction- flourishing…exercising dominion over the other earthly creatures.  We bear the image of the Creator and sharing, as God’s servant, in God’s kingly rule.  As God’s representative in the earthly realm, we are stewards of God’s creation.  We are not to exploit, waste, or despoil them, but to care for them and use them in the service of God and man.  

In Genesis 2, The Lord put us to work to take care of His creation. We were now charged to govern the earth responsibly under God’s authority.

In Psalms 8, it is reaffirmed that God has made us ruler of the works of our hands and everything under our feet, all the creatures.  Our rule over nature is real, but not absolute or independent.  It is participation, as a subordinate, in God’s rule; a gift, not a right.

(References: Gen 1:26, 28-29, Gen 2:15, Ps 8:6-8)

So what is Stewardship?

Merriam Webster Dictionary defines stewardship as the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care <stewardship of natural resources>.

Stewardship fits neatly into a sustainable living cycle.  As stewards we are responsible to care for things, something that requires intentional actions and decisions. Part of caring for what God gives us is also making sure you continue to have the resources available to care for, with what you are charged with.  Non-depletion of resources or taking care of our natural resources and making sure they are renewed becomes a focus.  For us personally, we make sure that in our garden, some plants are allowed to go to seed; creating a cycle that continues so that we will have a crop for next year.  God gives us stuff to take care of, not necessarily use it all up.

Being a good Steward is NOT becoming Self Reliant.

(Self-reliance is defined as the reliance on one's own efforts and abilities—Synonyms: independence, self-dependence, self-reliance, self-subsistence, and self-support)

One thing that comes up frequently in my conversations about Sustainable Living is the question of self-reliance or self-sufficiency.   This generally is questioned amongst our fellow church goers, where it seems there is a perceived conflict between the philosophy of total reliance on God in our life and sustainable living.  One thing I want to do is share my understanding of what the Bible tells us and how I believe it doesn’t contradict sustainable living, but actually supports it.  In short you cannot lead a sustainable life without relying on God to provide everything you need.  We had to set ourselves up to benefit from God’s work in our life.  We processed compost in our worm bins, amended the garden soil, planted seeds that we harvested, tended and watered the plants, but we cannot make the plants grow or produce fruit.  In short, without God; you get nothing.  Once you begin to rely on God, you have to rely on God because you can’t bail yourself out. This led us to a better understanding of God’s grace, something we are consciously relying on as we continue down the path toward sustainable living.