I have seen numerous movies and TV shows where the parents say to their teenage son or daughter "you're in charge of the house while we're gone", setting up the inevitable plot in which the teen makes a wreck of the house and tries to get it all cleaned up before the parents get home. Obviously being "in charge" of the house is not a license to wreck it or have one's way with it.
What called this to mind was the notion that we as human beings have a special God-given dominion over the Earth and the creatures living upon it, and that we can do with it what we like. When I remember that "the Earth is the Lord's", it reminds me that like the partying teen, we are still responsible for taking good, responsible care of our house.
"Dominion" implies supervision, not ownership, and we will be held accountable for the stewardship of what we have been entrusted with.
ReplyDeleteIn Genesis 2:15, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and to keep it." Nowhere does it say that we can lay waste to it.
In Christ,
Kevin
Nice analogy, Mark! I esp. appreciate it since I have two teens...
ReplyDeleteKent