Sometimes it’s hard to know what to do; it can be hard to know what will honour God, especially if you’re wrestling with a decision with no easy answer, or a situation with no simple solution.

But sometimes it is.

Like picking up some garbage.

I know, I know: That suggestion doesn’t sound very “fancy” or “theological.”

But hear me out.

In Genesis 1:31, God looked on the world he made and called it “very good.” Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the LORD’S, and everything in it…” Although these texts were written in a pre-industrial era and aren’t exclusively “about the environment,” many Christians look to these and consider environmental stewardship a very important faith issue.

Including me.

Some people think that no matter how much garbage we pick up, more will just appear, so why bother? But if someone threw a bunch of junk on my lawn, I wouldn’t leave it there just because someone would do it again. I want my lawn to look relatively nice. I want my kids to be able to play there and to enjoy the fresh smell of the trees.

Have you heard of NIMBYism? It stands for “not in my backyard.” Well, how about NIGBY? Not in God’s back yard!

“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it…”

Sometimes we make things more complicated than they need to be.

One way to honour God is to pick up some garbage.

By Matthew Ruttan

–“Why will the world end, and how?” is my latest podcast—Part 2 in the Armageddon series. You can listen in here. Enjoy!
–Bible quotes from the NIV.