“God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.” Genesis 1:31

If you have ever stood on the rim of the Grand Canyon or gazed out over the incredible views at the top of the Going-To-The-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, you know what it is to experience raw pleasure and delight. It is in such moments that you a overwhelmed by a sense of the majesty and glory of our Creator.

Did you know that God looks at what He made that way too? The Bible says that when God looked out over all He had made, He declared it to be ‘very good’. In other words, this was a ‘wow’ moment in which God expressed His joy and pleasure in what He had created for our pleasure.

God made all of this to share with us for our pleasure and enjoyment. But it’s not a man-centered sense of pleasure. It is God-centered. As John Piper teaches, “God means for us to be stunned and awed by His work of creation. But not for its own sake. He means for us to look at his creation and say…’what must this God be like in himself!’” Even with the effects of the curse, the earth still radiates with the beauty and wonder of God’s glory—made for our pleasure and understanding of His greatness. The pleasure that we experience when we behold the beauty of the earth compels us to worship—not the creation, but the Creator.

The danger of environmentalism is making nature into a idol. For the believer creation is a beautiful treasure from God, and with that treasure stirs, at the core of our being, a compelling desire to do all we can to preserve and care for this beautiful gift of God as an act of worship to our Creator. Thus, there is pleasure both in creation’s beauty and the diligent care of it!

Your grandchildren already probably know a lot about ‘going green’. The good things about this popular movement are the wonderful opportunities to engage with your grandchildren in meaningful discussion about God’s Creation and it’s ultimate glory. Organize your own Family Green Team by making a list of ways you can each be responsible stewards of the earth. Help them understand that the earth is GOD’S creation made for our pleasure, and our care for it is about treasuring this gift from God as an act of worship. We enjoy it and care for it as we would any treasured possession. This treasure is even more precious because it declares the majesty and glory of God.

What are you doing to express the delight in and enjoyment of God in His creation? What are some ways you model and teach this in your family?