Genesis 3, which details the Fall of mankind into sin, had, and continues to have, serious consequences on man. In fact, it’s had an effect on every human that has lived (even Jesus, who was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15)). We are all born under its curse. Everything bad that happens on this earth can be tied in some way or another to sin, from murder and lying, to stealing and adultery. Sin’s curse is pervasive.
Did you know that it even has an effect on nature? “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” (Romans 8:19-21) You would be wrong if you thought that only humans suffer. These verses tell us that even creation itself is suffering, with us! We are all slaves to the corruption of sin, from man to beast to trees and flowers. Your suffering does not have to necessarily be connected with a particular sin you committed. The difficulties and frustrations that you and I experience in life are part of the larger consequence of sin, in general. So when you stub your toe, or don’t get into the school you wanted, or fail the test you studied so hard for, it’s not just because you sinned right before that happened. All of creation groans with us, and understands the effects of sin.
So I am a tree hugger because of this. I want to redefine it, though. I define it as this: I care for creation because God made it good (Genesis 1), sin is working to corrupt God’s good work, and that bothers me so much that I’m going to work to reverse the curse of sin. We work to reverse the curse of sin in our personal lives, right? “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away…and if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.” (Matthew 5:28-30) We seek to rid ourselves of sin because God has given us a new heart that desires to serve Him. We help others to do it as well (Matthew 29:19-20), or at least we should be doing that. Why should we also not work to reverse the effects that sin has on creation itself? Water your flowers, plant a tree, prune a bush, do some landscaping, recycle, clean up trash…because you love Christ and hate sin!
Enjoy this heretical video:
