A non-systematic, hopefully non-ideological meditation on economic principles of Scripture. #1: Genesis 1:26-31

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
(Genesis 1:26-31 ESV)

Creation is a gift from God.  It's not something we have earned, or are entitled to, but comes by the grace of God.  Even as we think about how we have 'dominion' over the earth, this is not about making us the absolute rulers of our world.  Far too many people have used the idea of dominion to exploit the planet and its resources and inhabitants.  Indeed, the granting of dominion in this passage is not only to humans, but also to animals as well (1:30).  

And so what does it mean to consider the gift of God to us?  Gifts are best accepted gratefully, but also with the mindset that the giver means this gift to be a blessing.  And creation is a blessing.  Because God made these things to be 'very good' (1:31), this means that it is functional.  If we live as good stewards of what God has blessed us with, it means that we will never fail to have what we need in order to live.  Is this an absolute?  Of course not...disaster, drought, and the like have a way of destroying life, even to those who have properly tried to live.  But in general, creation gives us what we need because it is a gift of God.  

This should be the fundamental basis for Christian economics.  All things are a gift of God...and so how do we use them to God's glory?  Do we look to what we have been blessed with (whether born into plenty or poverty) and see such things as blessings?  Satan seeks to make blessings into tools for sin, and in economics this is no different.  The rich use their leverage to gain even more at the expense of the poor.  The ambitious look to take more from creation than is acceptable and so cause generations of harm to the planet. 

To misuse a gift, though, seems to be something that is an abomination in the sight of God.  When we refuse to be content with the 'very good' of creation, and come at it with an economic mindset that we will take all we can get, is this not the same as a child who receives a toy and thinks he deserves the entire toy store?  Creation as a gift means that it is enough.  We don't need to keep grabbing and posturing to think that we need more.  Dominion should never be taken to be license to exploit.