TLP 47: Create a Sustainable Home that Glorifies God

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This isn't a call to celebrate Arbor Day. This isn't a diatribe about recycling. This is an admonishment to teach our children how to worship

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God while they recreate, eat, and throw away their garbage. Have you ever been stung by a bee?

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Me too! Awesome coincidence! I've been working on my openings, and according to an internet article

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I read, it's good to build rapport with my audience. And so now, based off what I learned in high school English, you, the listener, now want to keep listening.

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Seriously, though, I purchased my first beehive in 2012, but not quite for the reasons you may think.

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Sure, there's nothing so delicious as eating honey straight from the hive, and the educational aspects for my family have been

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Ivy League -ish. Did you know that honeybees are the only insects that make food edible to man?

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Did you know that honey never spoils? And did you know that the language of the honeybees is the second most complex language in the world, second only to human language?

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But there was a more dynamic reason for my leap into beekeeping. I must admit, the concept wasn't fully formed when

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I began, but it has since taken shape into a very full -on personal movement, but more on that in a minute.

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You know, the internet is a tricky place, and people with something to share find they have to spend more time researching metadata,

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SEO, and responsive websites than they do crafting their message. Well, at Truth Love Parent, we tried to be good stewards of our time and still be tech -savvy, but we found that the single best way to get

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God's message about parenting into the lives of Christian moms and dads is to create a quality show and then encourage our listeners to remember just three letters,

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L -S -R. LSR reminds our listeners of six important ways that they can be a blessing to their families and Truth Love Parent at the same time.

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When you listen, God's Word has the opportunity to engage your mind, and the learn step happens when you take what you've learned and put it to use in your families.

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Besides glorifying God, helping parents listen and learn is our highest goal. The two

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S's in LSR are subscribe and share. In order to keep listening and learning, you should then subscribe using your favorite podcast player.

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We prefer iTunes ourselves, and the nice thing is you only have to subscribe once. And the second

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S provides you the opportunity to help other parents just like you find God's truth for their parenting.

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And the last two things you can do are rate and review, and again, you only have to do these one time.

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TLPs had on your family. You know what it's like to check out reviews for a product. They're so helpful and you can provide that help for somebody else.

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Now, that is the most that I've ever said about LSR, but I hope you're up for the challenge. Will you commit to at least do the three one time steps?

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Will you subscribe, rate and review us? And if you're really into the growth of your families and the growth of other families, we suggest you listen, learn and share as well.

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All right, now let's figure out what beekeeping has to do with your family. I keep bees for the same reason

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I have a vegetable garden and recycle. I care very much about creation. Now I know it'll be easy for some people to reach for the pause button right now because they grew up in the seventies, eighties and nineties and were taught that only hippies and liberals care about the environment.

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But in the words of Jack Sparrow, let me lend a machete to your intellectual thicket.

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In the very first book of the Bible, in the very first chapter to the very first man and woman, God outlined his five step plan for man in relation to the earth.

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Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it and have dominion over it.

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And the very first job he ordained was a gardener. You see, God created this earth and he commanded man to care for it and use it for his honor and glory.

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God, not Greenpeace, has called us to ecological stewardship. But you may still have your reservations about me.

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You sat down to listen to a parenting podcast and now you're wondering what this tree hugging dirt worshiping fanatic is trying to brainwash you with.

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But really friends, we need to acknowledge some of God's truth on the subject and then genuinely see how it may affect our families.

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Our first observation starts with this, that creation is good. Contrary to ancient philosophers, this mortal coil we carry is in fact a beloved creation of God.

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The creation account dispels any notion that this universe was anything other than good. Yes, since then it's been mangled by sin, but nowhere in the

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Bible does God lead us to believe that his creation has somehow lost the value it had when it was perfect.

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Yet there are two things in particular that drive many Christians away from the creation. The first is fear.

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Modern technological advances have reared a generation of young people completely detached from the living creation.

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I was the director of a camp for seven years and cannot tell you the number of children I've seen blanch at the thought of sitting in the grass to eat a picnic lunch.

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It is sad that nature has become this place that must be tolerated in the few short seconds it takes to get from building to vehicle and then back again.

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And the second thing is ignorance. Another consequence of our post -industrial age is that most of us don't need to know how anything is made in order to enjoy it.

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I've often joked that in the advent of a zombie apocalypse, I would be relatively no good in trying to rebuild this country in that I have no skills in carpentry or building cell towers.

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But I do know about food production, and I think that's more important. Unfortunately, most people I run into have no idea about farming or gardening, hunting, fishing, beekeeping, or anything else that can meet the basic needs of human sustenance.

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Sometimes the ignorance is understandable in that the person has never had to think about it, but sometimes ignorance is intentional, and that's just sad.

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Remember, part of God's stated purpose in creating man was that we should, quote, rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

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The Hebrew word translated rule means literally to exercise dominion over and subdue.

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It's a strong word with a precise definition. Man was created, in part, to possess this creation.

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This mindset, removed from the entire canon of Scripture, may produce an abusive ecology of stripping and wasting, but the

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Christian knows that he cannot subtract a single verse and interpret it apart from the rest of God's revealed truth. For this reason, we must dig deeper than the common passages concerning the environment.

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I want to talk about three types of stewardship. The first one is this, intelligent stewardship.

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Leviticus has much to say about rotating crops, letting the land rest, and allowing plants to grow in healthy, profitable ways.

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Nothing should be attempted ignorantly. We see in Scripture that wisdom learns, understands, applies that learning to life and learn some more.

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To be wise, we must be knowledgeable about this earth and how God desires it to work. But we also need to talk about efficient stewardship.

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It's true that 1 Corinthians 14 is talking primarily about the use of spiritual gifts in the church, but it's also clear from the entirety of Scripture that God is a

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God of order. This cannot apply only to speaking in tongues and prophesying. He created the world in an orderly fashion.

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He desires worship and service to be orderly, and He commands us to redeem the time and count the costs.

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When we disrupt the normal created order to mass -produce unhealthy products for the grasping fingers of consumer -oriented mini -kingdoms, we dismiss the way

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God intended His creation to function. And then we should also talk about gentle stewardship.

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Our concept of fairness is generally not biblically informed, and yet the command to be gentle applies not only to people, but has application even to our animals.

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In 1 Timothy, Paul acknowledges the practice of not muzzling an ox as it threshes because even the animal is deserving of remuneration for its work.

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He was specifically quoting Deuteronomy 25 .4. Now please understand, again, we have the right to kill animals in order to put food on our plates and provide for our necessities, but I believe the

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Lord is not glorified by inhumane treatment of animals. There's no reason to cause an animal to suffer by spending its entire life lying in its own feces just so everyone can have bacon on Saturday.

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So with this kind of stewardship in mind, this three -fold stewardship—stewardship that's intelligent, efficient, and gentle—I developed the concept of sanctified sustainability.

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This is less of a movement about the earth and more about the biblical principles concerning wastefulness.

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The ideas at this point are still not perfectly formed, but I'd like to share with you some of my goals for creating an atmosphere of sanctified sustainability in my home and then what that teaches my kids and then hopefully you can see how it can help your home and your kids.

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The first point I want to make is this, God is to be worshipped, not nature.

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Please hear my words. Do not make an idol of creation.

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I don't care how worthy the cause, if you devote more time and energy and money to it than you do

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Christ, you're worshipping the creation instead of the Creator. And Romans has some very uncomfortable things to say about people in that position.

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Our ecology must be motivated by our love for God. We must reduce pollution because we love

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God. We must protect endangered species because there's absolutely no Christ -honoring reason we should wipe them out.

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God must be at the center of all we do. He is the motivation. His glory must be our sole goal.

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This approach teaches our kids that nothing is more important than God's will.

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Everything we do needs to conform to His purposes. The second part of sanctified sustainability is this, waste is to be avoided at all costs.

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Listen, waste is a sin. We are to do our best at all times in all things.

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Wasting food, money, time, and resources is always a sin.

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This is reason enough to cook only what will be eaten. This is why we shouldn't buy clothes simply to throw them out when our favorite designer creates a new line.

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This is why we use the technology God has blessed us with to spread His truth, not merely go on hour -long temple runs or Netflix binges.

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I need to sit on this point just for a few minutes though because we humans are above all things most wasteful.

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In fact, I believe it's one of our biggest character flaws. Let's count the ways that we're wasteful. We squander the basic resources

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God generously bestows on us to accomplish His will. You see, our Heavenly Father lavishes us with money, land, houses, appliances, furniture, vehicles, devices, recreation, and food.

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My family scrapes pots, keeps bees, grows food, shops at resale stores, reduces, reuses, and recycles because God has commanded that we be stewards of this world.

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We want to be intentional, sustainable stewards of God's creation. All forms of wastefulness are sin, whether it's money or time, we must redeem it.

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We also waste the time and talents given to us to praise our Savior and point all eyes to Him.

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I am daily burdened by the people I meet pouring their entire beings into sharpening their minds, building their skill sets, and earning their degrees just to get a job.

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It's sad. We have such a higher calling. Have you ever noticed that in the Bible, it doesn't matter whether they're king or evangelist, beggar or prophet, no one's vocation means anything outside of its usefulness in accomplishing

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God's plan. This doesn't mean a singer has to sing only sacred songs, but it does mean that God had better get the glory while they sing it.

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We also fritter away the daily grace and spirit empowerment the Lord provides.

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God has promised moment by moment escapes from temptation. Every morning, a daily helping of mercy waits for us beside our beds.

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The Holy Spirit is constantly interceding for us with petitions we don't even know we need. Jesus is our perpetual advocate before the

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Father, and yet despite all of that, we return to our sin vomit like a dog. And then we ask

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God where He was when we, quote, needed Him the most. We also waste

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His absolute truth in the marketplace of ideas, hastily trading it for pathetic lies. From the words in to amen, the

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Bible contains every command, principle, proverb, and answer to life. But instead of washing our minds in its truth, ever minding its precepts and utilizing its life -changing power, we log onto Twitter to be told how to live.

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We'd sooner pattern our lives after our favorite fictional characters than after the God -man Jesus Christ.

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We bow at the shrine of the Ph .D. and offer incense to our professors even when they speak contrary to God's revealed will.

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Lastly, too many people waste by throwing away God's gift of salvation and by rejecting it or just hiding it under a bushel.

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And this is the greatest waste of all. Of all the beauty in the Bible, the gospel stands as the pinnacle of all -encompassing truth.

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Yet we hide it under the commonplace bushels of our cubicle walls, backpacks, and status updates. Even worse are those who take the shed blood of Christ and pour it onto the ground as an act of rebellion toward God and hatred of His sacrificial act of love.

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The greatest waste in the universe is the rejection of salvation. This is a big part of why we're having this conversation.

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Whether it's a patch of land I can cultivate, a device I can refine to spread God's truth, or a single human being

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I can help become spiritually productive for God, I believe it's our calling to do so. When I teach my kids that waste is poor stewardship, it ingrains in them a mentality that's, thankfully, all too foreign to most

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Americans. It not only teaches our kids to use their resources wisely, but it also instills contentment.

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Instead of destroying their toys because they're too rough and inconsiderate, they learn to cherish what they own. Instead of buying the newest game system and just throwing the other away, they learn to do some business skills as they sell the old system, or better yet, they learn to bless others by giving it away.

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Instead of filling their rooms with toys and clothes and technology they rarely use, they learn to enjoy what they have to its fullest.

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Instead of squandering spiritual realities like protection from sin, peace, grace, and the plethora of other promises

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God offers, our children learn to thrive in them. Alright, so,

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I've had to realize, sometimes I throw a lot of lists at you guys. Number one this, number one that, number one this, and it's like, what, when's he ever going to get to number two?

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Oh, those are the three different number ones he's been talking about this whole time. Oh, okay. So anyway, quick review. Sanctified sustainability says that God is to be worshipped, not nature, and waste is to be avoided at all times, but it also teaches us two other lessons.

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Number three, resources must be used to the best of their ability. Why do we spend so much money on grass?

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Have you ever really considered the resources you pour into keeping your lawn looking like a shag carpet? To what end?

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Aesthetics? Well, what if each lawn became a garden with multiple purposes? What if it not only was a glorious display of God's creation, but it also produced food and encouraged beneficial animals and insects to flourish there?

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I'm sure your money could be used in greater ways for the cause of Christ than merely keeping your lawn pretty.

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This mindset is as valuable for our kids as the last one because they learn to weigh carefully what they're going to do with their money.

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I love challenging my son and daughter to consider the spiritual realities behind their purchasing. Do they need it or want it?

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If they want it, is it a good use of the limited funds they have? If they purchase it, do they realize what their responsibility is to not waste it because they're bored with it two days later?

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Now please understand, I don't prohibit my children from buying trinkets, but I do help them navigate the mental labyrinth necessary to live in the light of God's word.

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In an advertised, soaked society, trying to exaggerate their discontentment and coax them to purchase things will be a waste of God's resources.

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And the fourth one is this. Abuse must stop. Conservation must start.

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I dislike animal mills because not only do they mass -produce unhealthy, low -quality meat for the protein -packed menus of obese

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Americans, but they also subject the animals to appalling conditions. Again, I don't support

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PETA or PETA or whatever it's called, and I think people go way too far personifying animals, but I don't believe that a

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Christian can truly glorify God when he eats what he eats blithely, ignoring the fact that God's creation is being abused to provide his,

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I don't know, heart disease on a bun. This is also the reason I keep bees. Honeybees are responsible for pollinating up to three -fourths of the food we eat, and yet no one can figure out why all the bees are dying.

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I say no one, but of course, I mean, no one was something to lose by admitting what's really killing the bees. Who has any idea?

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Conservationists and environmentalists seem to know that GMOs and pesticides are to blame, and yet we turn a blind eye to the problem because the average

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Christian American is sometimes just too lazy to learn. Well, how bad does it have to get before we step up and pick up a book?

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I love the repercussions of this philosophy in our homes because not only does it teach kindness and generosity and gentleness to God's creation, including humans, but it also demands that we research.

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You see, the Christian must never commit to a life choice without knowing the spiritual implications. We really are like sheep.

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We just do whatever the sheep in front of us did without questioning why, but the Bible repeatedly demands that we be wise, discerning, thoughtful, and careful.

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Eating or wearing or buying or utilizing something without researching can land us in compromising situations.

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I believe this is why so many professing Christians are okay with homosexuality and abortion.

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They haven't really studied what God's Word says, so they parrot the talking head they like the most.

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We mustn't do that, and we mustn't teach our children to meander through life that way. I love to hear my daughter present biblical rationale for her choices.

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I thrill to watch my son weigh the world's thinking against the Bible's wisdom. We need to teach our children to enjoy learning and excel in research, or who knows what they'll embrace.

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So, Aaron, are you saying I should keep bees? Some of you won't be allowed to keep bees because where you live, and some of you shouldn't do it because you're deathly allergic to stings.

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There are others of you that have absolutely no time in your schedule because you pour yourself into the work of God and your families.

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But for those of you with plenty of space and a sliver of time, I ask, hey, why not? At least research it.

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But this really isn't about bees. I was just using that to build rapport, remember? The broader question is, are you going to take seriously

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God's command to rule over this world with all of the biblical requirements of a faithful steward?

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For many of you, this may be a call to buy organic, raise bees, have a garden, or start a blog to teach people about sanctified ways of eating, living, and sustaining what

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God has given to us. But for the rest of us, the call to sanctified sustainability is a call to do just three simple things.

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Number one, know God's word. Two, understand the truth about your food.

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And three, don't waste. One, know God's word. If you don't know

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God's thoughts on our stewardship responsibilities for this planet, how can you keep them? Two, understand the truth about your food.

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Can you eat or drink all to the glory of God if you don't know your food has been abused or made unhealthy by overambitious genetic engineering or created in a wasteful manner?

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And three, don't waste. There's just no excuse for any of us to add to landfills because we feel that we, quote, need a new couch when our old one is perfectly fine.

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Sell it. Give it away. But consider whether or not that's the best thing God wants you spending your money on.

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I'm sure most of you have heard of Dave Ramsey, and he shared a simple article to show us just a tiny sliver of the things average people throw their money away for.

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It's called 10 Things Americans Waste Money On. I'll link it for you in the description so you can check it out because I fear that most of us don't think about this the way we should.

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Imagine the potential sadness that may overwhelm our hearts when we stand before our Lord and find that though we cared very much for sharing the gospel and providing for the needy, we greatly displeased our

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Lord by not glorifying him in our eating and drinking and our day -to -day living. Again, this is not a call to celebrate

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Arbor Day. This isn't a diatribe about recycling. This is an admonishment to teach our children how to worship

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God in every moment of our days at work and home, whether we're creating, cultivating, recreating, or just throwing away our garbage.

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Because the Christian life isn't just about going to church and reading our Bibles. It's about taking the truth we learn from those activities and actively applying it to everything we do.

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Because if God's Word isn't sufficient enough to help me in the hallways and bathrooms and closets and wallets of my life, what is it sufficient for?

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As always, you can find today's episode notes linked in the description, and I'm really looking forward to our next episode,

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When to Raise Your Voice, Is Yelling Ever Appropriate? There are a lot of differing thoughts out there in parenting advice land, but we need to have a clear word from God on this one.

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And don't forget to LSR today. One of the easiest ways to share our episodes is on social media.

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You can like and follow TLP on Facebook and Twitter, and you can find me on Twitter as well at AM Brewster.

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Remember, 2 Peter tells us that God has provided everything we need for life and godliness.

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When we apply His Word to every area of our lives, we teach our children just how precious it is.

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Truth. Love. Parents. Is part of the Evermind Ministries family and is dedicated to helping you become an intentional premeditated parent.

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Join us next time as we search God's Word for the truth your family needs today.