I used to get a yearly warning to get rid of noxious weeds on our property. It arrived along with our municipal tax bill. An unspecified fine was threatened.

Noxious weeds? Scary but puzzling. Which are noxious and which harmless? Unfortunately, they don’t append a list. I know from experience that poison ivy is a menace. I’ve had its blisters pop up too often to ignore it. And ragweed seems to cause the misery of hay fever. But what about lamb’s quarters, goldenrod, and milkweed?

Yes, take milkweed for example. As children, the milk that oozed from a broken milkweed stem fascinated us. And in craft classes we’d often decorate the pods for Christmas. Otherwise, the plant seems useless—a noxious weed. However, researchers discovered that the milkweed leaf is the only food that monarch caterpillars eat. Since the milkweed is poisonous to most predators, it keeps the spectacularly colored monarchs safe. What if we had obliterated all the milkweed in Ontario? Ergo, no monarchs!

The absence of these magnificent butterflies wouldn’t cause a ripple in the financial markets. But I would be sad along with thousands of others all over North America, including Mexico. I look forward to these butterflies flitting around my garden.

Is the beauty of the monarchs and the pleasure they bring enough to agitate for the survival of milkweed? Or must something be useful to be conserved? To broaden the question; would the world be poorer without whales and orchids, royal Bengal tigers and coral reefs, caribou and ferns?

Beauty or utility? How is the Christian to approach questions like these that raise issues of conservation? We must first search the Scriptures for guidance. In Genesis One we discover that God gave Adam and Eve responsibilities. “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”[1] Chapter two describes a garden where God placed them, “to work it and take care of it.”[2]

Clearly, God gives mankind permission to utilize the earth and its resources for human benefit. But don’t the words “subdue” and “rule over” sound ominous? Could this command include permission to rape and pillage the earth? To burn its rain forests? To deplete the seas of fish? To hunt bears for their body parts? To fill our oceans with PCB’s? To clear all agricultural land of trees so mammoth machines can sweep over the land unhindered for miles? To confine farm animals to narrow pens in vast factories that pollute the ground water for miles around? No, a thousand times no!

God calls us to treasure and care for the earth, including all its resources—animal, vegetable or mineral. Eventually, he will judge us for our stewardship, including the legacy we leave. We have no right to disrupt earth’s fragile balance for short-term gain. We have no right to allow the extinction of a species just because they seem to serve no useful purpose.

Who but God, the creator of all, can really understand what some call, “the balance of nature”? God created a world of living things inter-connected by their dependence on each other. At the very beginning God said, “To all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” Bio-diversity and ecological balance are creation concepts.

Failure to conserve the unique habitats of the earth will harm mankind. Not only will the destruction of the rainforest deplete earth’s store of oxygen, but it will also diminish the gene pool. Perhaps the cure for malaria, cancer or Alzheimer’s disease is out there somewhere waiting to be discovered.

Even if no use is ever found for obscure species, we have a responsibility to preserve their existence because God declared them good. “God called the dry ground ‘land’ and the gathered waters he called ‘seas.’ And God saw that it was good.”[3] “And God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation’ . . . And God saw that it was good.”[4] “And God said, ‘Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth.’ . . . And God saw that it was good.”[5] “And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures.’ . . . And God saw that it was good.”[6]

Surely, we don’t want to be found guilty of destroying what God has declared good. Frequently, we’ll be unable to point to any utility in a plant or creature. Perhaps some things exist only because God delights in creating complexity and beauty. Preserving living things that project the artistry of the Creator is a Christian duty.

To return to the monarch butterfly, who can deny that God declared it good? Who can deny that God has given it the milkweed for food? Still monarchs remained a mystery until recent times.

Until 1975 it was not known that the monarch butterflies of eastern North America migrated. After all, they lacked the size and sturdiness of birds. And how could they possibly find their way? When they disappeared in November, pundits assumed they died out and a new flock was born in the spring.

First, Fred Urquhart used tiny tags to trace their migration to the Mexican border. Then a young couple discovered their winter habitat two miles high in the Michoacan Mountains of Mexico. What a sight met their eyes! Tens of millions of butterflies thronging groves of oyamel trees. They had migrated from as far as James Bay, 1800 miles away. Astonishing!

Logging threatened to decimate the groves. Fortunately, an international effort led to the creation of a Mexican butterfly sanctuary 216 square miles in size. The future looks promising for the monarch butterfly. Is God pleased? I believe so.    

Read Gen. 1:27-31

Lord, you created this astonishing world for our benefit and your glory. We reap enormous riches from land and sea. You have blessed us mightily. As if this was not enough, you have surrounded us with the incredible beauty of your handiwork. And yet we have not glorified you as Creator. We have not fulfilled our stewardship well. Our seas are becoming depleted; our water and air polluted. Our descendants are threatened.

Heavenly father, increase awareness among Christians of this issue. Lord, raise up from the Christian Church a mighty army of men and women committed to conservation and the ecological health of the planet. Help me to do my part where I live. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Watch for a reprint of Down A Country Road from which this excerpt is taken.

(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. If I can help you spiritually, let me know. Further articles, books, and stories at:  Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ; Eric’s books are available at: https://www.amazon.com/Eric-E.-Wright/e/B00355HPKK%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share)

[1] Gen. 1:28

[2] Gen. 2:15

[3] Gen. 1:10

[4] Gen. 1:11,12

[5] Gen. 1:20,21

[6] Gen. 1:24,25