Genesis 1:26-30

Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." (Genesis 1:26)

My son Joshua will be heading off to college in the Fall to study fisheries and wildlife biology. He’s passionate enough to have created an independent study at the Blue Valley school district nature center this year in which he's getting exposure to his chosen field of endeavor. One day he was telling me about the water quality testing he is doing to measure nitrate levels in the water. Apparently, high nitrate levels increase algae production which is harmful to the fish population. I asked what would cause the increase in nitrate levels. Josh told me the big culprit is our insistence on plush green lawns. We put down fertilizer, the run-off gets into the streams, and nitrates go up. I know I’m guilty. This isn’t intentional, mind you, I just didn’t ever give it much thought.

The call to have dominion is the call to care for creation. Created in the image of God, we are given the task of stewardship of "the fish of the sea...the birds of the air...the cattle...all the wild animals of the earth...and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." (Gen 1:26) However, our disregard of this call (intentional or unintentional) is taking its toll on our streams, lakes, and oceans. Whether it’s chemical run-off or garbage sent out to sea, our wastefulness is doing damage to that which has been entrusted to us. 

Let's tackle our problem of wastefulness by heeding our call to faithful stewardship so that all of creation can flourish.  


Genesis 1:26-30 NRSV
26 Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."
 27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."
 29 God said, "See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.
 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so.