With gasoline costing over $2/litre and the environment spinning out like a chihuahua on a triple espresso, it’s understandable that people would look to alternatives to fossil fuels – like electric cars – as a solution. Teslas, Leafs, Volts and Bolts abound; governments offer electric vehicle incentives; demand is outstripping supply, with the waiting time for a new hybrid up to a year.
But the rush to electrify begs a question: “Is this what certain people want for the planet, or what the planet’s Creator wants?” The two might not be the same thing.
When I was living in Vancouver, I got along “just fine” walking or taking transit to and from work and (I figured) earning “greenie points” at the same time. Who needs a car?
But one day, I was chatting with a fellow I knew through ministry. He and his wife were physically unable to drive, and had to shlep their groceries and anything else to and from their home via SkyTrain. He said they wished they knew someone with a car.
Outwardly, I expressed sympathy. Inwardly, I thought, almost smugly, “You can include me out: I don’t have a car.”
I have heard the Lord speak to me on a few occasions, and this was one of them – barely had the inward thought fully formed, that He said, “How many times are you going to make that excuse for not helping someone? You’re younger: you can drive. Why don’t you have a car?”
For someone who believes that God provides even when our visible resources aren’t enough, the excuse that I didn’t have the money did not fly. I’ll spare you the details, but after just over a year of prayer, obedience and some unexplained events (some call them “miracles”), I picked up my brand-new Toyota Matrix.
(Ch-ching! Ah, thank you, sir!)
That car helped me give people rides, haul groceries and take donated clothing to Gospel Mission; AND, I got to enjoy a vehicle.
Now … what if, instead of a four-door hatchback, the Lord put it on my heart to get a minivan so I could have a “bus ministry”; or (oh, the horror!) a 4x4, to reach remote locations?
In the Book of Acts, Peter saw a vision while praying one day: various animals that people were forbidden to eat, and a voice saying, “Rise, Peter: kill and eat.” Peter answers, “But Lord, I could never eat anything common or unclean,” to which he hears, “What God has cleansed, you must not call common.” Thus, began outreach beyond “the lost sheep of Israel”.
Suppose we change the circumstances?
“An SUV? But Lord, I could never drive anything environmentally unfriendly.”
“’Environmentally unfriendly’? What I have ordained, you must not call ‘environmentally unfriendly’!”
Hmm. “Not my will, but Thy will be done”, indeed.
How do we determine God’s will? People say, “think globally”, but how realistic is that when God’s Creation is a mosaic of infinite parts? Thankfully, God knows globally, and has a way of simplifying things for us mortals. We would go crazy, trying to determine the impact of our actions, like unravelling the environmental impact of mining the materials for electric vehicle batteries and disposing them afterwards, not to mention adding to demand on the power grid. And why? So people can say, “Ooh: aren’t they eco-conscious!”?
The Lord’s word says not to worship Creation, but the Creator; not to love the planet, but the people; not to flaunt our eco-righteousness, but, as He promises in 2 Chronicles, to humble ourselves and turn to Him, and He will “heal the land”.
Drew Snider is a pastor, a writer and author of an e-book, "A Very Convenient Truth - or Jesus Told Us There's Be Days Like These, So Stop Worrying About the Planet and Get With His Program!"
You can read more articles on our interfaith blog, Spiritually Speaking, HERE: /blogs/spiritually-speaking
* This article was published in the print edition of the Tomes Colonist on Saturday, July 23rd 2022
