December 3 – Dominion

Genesis 2:15 (WEB)
Yahweh God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.

I heard a pastor make this statement about fatherhood: once you become a father, you cannot escape making an impact on your children. If you are a good father, you will have a positive impact on them. If you are a bad father, you will still impact their lives, but in a negative way. And even if you are an absent father, you absence will still impact your children greatly. Some positions we are given in life come with inherent responsibility and consequences.

In the story of Creation, we come across one such position that carries with it inherent responsibility and consequences.

Genesis 1:26-28 (WEB)
God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

After God the Creator displayed his amazing creativity and power by creating an entire Universe, including the earth with all its creatures and plants and land structures, He decided to create a being after His own likeness. Then He conferred on him a position, or office, if you will, of rulership over the world that God just created. As a king appoints a steward to act on his behalf, so God appointed Adam and Eve and their descendants to steward and care for His creation.

This position came with its own inherent consequences. God intended for humanity to exercise their God-given authority by stewarding His creation with creativity, goodness, and wisdom, just as God would have done. This would result in blessing and health for God’s creation. However, humanity could also choose to act selfishly and harm God’s creation. These actions would also impact creation, but in a negative way. And if Adam and Eve or their descendants ignored their duties, or worse yet, abdicated their authority and gave it to another, the impacts would be felt throughout all that they ruled.

You and I share in this mandate which God gave to all mankind. We, too, have been appointed as stewards of God’s creation. We can choose to use this authority to bless or to curse, to build up or tear down, to restore or destroy. But no matter what we choose to do, we will impact our world one way or another.

May God make us instruments of His grace in this world. May our impact on this world be for good. May it glorify God. And may we one day hear Him say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Matthew West, “Do Something”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_RjndG0IX8

All Scripture is taken from the World English Bible (WEB), Public Domain.