All creatures, being God’s servants, must be treated with justice.

“You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.” Deuteronomy 25.4

God loves His creation – loves it so much that He sent His only Son to redeem it from sin and to reconcile it to Himself (Jn. 3.16; 2 Cor. 5.17-21). Because God loves His creation, we His people must love it as well. The various creatures of the world – whether animate or inanimate – fulfill distinct roles within the divine economy. Thus we must seek to understand the world as God’s servant and honor it as such, using each aspect of the creation in ways consistent with the demands of love for God and neighbor.

So we must not mistreat the creatures in our own service, whether oxen or waterways or lands. We must take care to honor the creatures which have been entrusted to our neighbors, lest we cause our neighbor’s stewardship to suffer (cf. Ex. 22.1, 4; Lev. 24.18, 21; etc.). In the divine economy prepared for the people of ancient Israel, the land was to be given rest from cultivation every seven years, that it might replenish its strength and continue to be fruitful in perpetuity. Farmers today demonstrate their sense of the wisdom of resting the land by rotating crops, liming and fertilizing exhausted soils, and allow plots of land to lie fallow on a rotating basis.

We may also honor the creation by creating sanctuaries which preserve flora and fauna untouched by human development or abuse; by feeding the song birds; even by learning the names of particular creatures and understanding something of their unique contribution to the wellbeing of the environment and the glory of God.

What applies to the creation – honoring and caring for it, using it in ways consistent with the purposes of God’s glory – applies as well to the cultural products we make from the creation and use for our own sustenance and enrichment. Does it glorify God to change our oil every 3,000 miles? I find no contradiction, nor do I think it trivial, to answer that question in the affirmative.

We honor the creation when we love it as God does. When we delight in the creation the way God does, we will learn about the creatures within our purview and take care to use them in ways that reflect God’s purposes and further His blessings and glory on earth (cf. Ps. 111).

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