Stewardship of a dying planet

With oil prices steadily climbing, rumors and claims of recessions, its more important to be wise stewards. There is renewed talk about carbon footprints, shrinking ice in the artic and other ominous news. What has taken years, decades to mess up, can't be undone in days and months. We as Christians should know that Jesus said their will be signs of the end, I'm not going to say that we're seeing those signs now, but we're closer today to His return than last year. So what's that got to do with stewardship? Some of the visual imagery of Revelation may be glimpses of a dying world, it only has to last until Jesus' return.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment
and its inhabitants die like flies.
But my salvation will last forever,
my righteousness will never fail. Isaiah 51:6

This is dangerous ground to tread. We need to steward the earth so it will last another 10,000 years(creationists approximate age of the earth), to make it last, but some might say, use it up, Jesus will come sooner. If you do the math, the earth's about 10,000 years, does it need to last 10,000 more? Doubtful. 5,000? Unlikely.

What do we need to do as Bible following Christians?

Steward our resources, so that we can pass on the earth to the next generation to steward. The solution is the size of the problem. Its global macroeconomics. We need to get out of being consumers, use it and chuck it, buy new _____ all the time because its the latest and greatest. We instead need to reduce our consumption, reuse what we can, recycle what we can and compost the biodegradables, what's left will be a small of amount of refuse that could be sent out as trash. We need to be smart about trash, things that are in the trash stream on a larger scale than the individual household, can be recycled, reused, reduced, there are some very interesting waste to energy experiments going on right now.

What's our immediate benefit?

We can free up more resources for kingdom work, we can feel good about stewardship, we will have more free time, less wants and more contentment. We can spend time with our children, instead of working.

Salt and Light

It says in Matthew 5:13-16
13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

We are to be the salt. I heard from a man who had been in the salt mines that special glasses were used to protect the eyes. I pondered over this and came to these conclusions:

• Salt is reflective and it cleaves(breaks) in regular and flat planes, which are highly reflective. Our eyes could be damaged by the bright reflection from it. This is prevalent on the salt flats around the world.
• Salt can cause double vision. As seen in the picture, it can blur or double the vision and it if is reflecting the light and doubles it, twice the light reflection.
• Salt can irritate the eyes, by it's drying properties it can absorb water from its surroundings.
• Salt mines are actually very clean and sanitary, even temperature all year round, even humidity and easy to light for mining the salt.
  

When Jesus said we are to be the salt and light of the world, we are to have certain attributes that should affect our surroundings:

• We are to reflect the light of Christ. Do we have a good reflection? Or are there imperfections that hinder the reflection?
• We are to be the feet and hands of Christ. Are we seen as a "ghost" image of Christ? A double exposure?
• We are to change our surroundings. Do we affect the world around us?
• We are to be self-controlled. Are we even-tempered? Not easily angered? Consistent in our day to day lives?

Are you reflecting and refracting Christ's light?