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This past spring, my family planted a small garden. Gardening is quite a common thing for the country folks here. However, it was unusual for my family because neither I nor my family had any knowledge of gardening. We searched online for tutorials, watched videos, and step by step, we finally planted the seeds.

Then, my husband and I sat by the garden, staring at the bare soil, and feeling a sense of awe. Gardening, we mused, truly requires a gardener’s faith and faithfulness, which are required for a Christian in the Bible as well.

Faith

After the gardeners sow, they cannot see the sprouting and fruit-bearing instantly, but they believe that sprouting will happen a few weeks later, and a harvest several months later. According to the definition in the book of Hebrews, when you cannot see something but believe it to be true, that is your faith.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” —Hebrews 11:1

Thus, faith has a content. When you cannot see the results but still believe in the principles and doctrines leading to those results, these principles and doctrines become the content of your faith. The faith of a gardener is the laws of nature. Then what is the faith of a Christian?

If a Christian claims to have faith but cannot articulate what their faith is, the high chance is he lacks faith. Lack of faith is problematic because there is a door between God’s grace and us, and faith is the key that opens this door, allowing Christians to access God’s grace.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” —Ephesians 2:8

“By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” —Romans 5:2

The faith of Christians is the saving gospel, which is the death and resurrection of Jesus.

“I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received…By which also ye are saved…For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures…So we preach, and so ye believed. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?…And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” —1 Corinthians 15:1-17

The Corinthian church was debating whether there was such a thing as the resurrection of the dead, much like people today who have not witnessed anyone rise from the dead, let alone Jesus being crucified and resurrected. The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians to strengthen their faith in those things not seen. If the Son of God, Jesus, cannot rise from death, then what hope do we sinners have that we can be raised up from death because of our savior Jesus?

Interestingly, in the following verses, Paul also used the gardening metaphor to explain resurrection:

“But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?… Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die… So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” —1 Corinthians 15:35-44

Just as gardeners bury the seeds with dirt, we are also buried in the dirt after death. Gardeners and Christians both believe that new life will appear after the burial. Gardeners believe in the laws of nature, and Christians believe in God’s words about resurrection.

“So then faith cometh by hear­ing, and hear­ing by the word of God.” —Romans 10:17

Faithfulness

A gardener waters and weeds every day by faith. The gardener’s unwavering labor shows his faithfulness toward what he believes. Even after the seeds sprout, the gardener does not slack off but nurtures these new seedlings to bear fruit. Despite having watched many tutorials and videos on gardening, and having faith in the laws of nature, if my family didn’t give consistent attention to the seedlings sprouted in our garden for a few days, the seedlings might wither, or get bitten by wild rabbits.

While faith has nothing to do with labor, it is the invisible understanding or acknowledgment in your mind; faithfulness is how you labor to guard what you believe. To bear fruit in a garden or to bear spiritual fruit in a Christian, faith is needed, and so is faithfulness. When a man believes the gospel, he is the seedling sprouting from the burial; subsequently, he is also the gardener, who needs to faithfully labor so that he can reap the fruit of the Spirit. The Bible defines the fruit of the Spirit:

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”—Galatians5:23-24

Just as gardeners consistently water the soil, Christians should faithfully water for spiritual fruit, and this water is the Word of God. If there is no Word of God in us, our spiritual new life will wither.

“It is writ­ten, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by ev­ery word of God.” —Luke 4:4

Just as gardeners always are on guard against rabbits nibbling on their seedlings, Christians, in pursuit of spiritual fruit, should always be against teachings that may corrupt God’s words.

“For we are not as many, which cor­rupt the word of God…” —2 Corinthians 2:17

“But have re­nounced the hid­den things of dishon­es­ty, not walk­ing in crafti­ness, nor han­dling the word of God de­ceit­ful­ly…” —2 Corinthians 4:2

Just as gardeners persevere in tending to their garden, not abandoning it because growth is not visible, nor leaving their duty for the attractions of the world; Christians should hold fast to the sound doctrines they are given, for the sake of spiritual fruit, not turning away, not being double-minded, and not following other doctrines.

“There­fore see­ing we have this min­istry, as we have re­ceived mer­cy, we faint not…” —2 Corinthians 4:1

“Take heed un­to thy­self, and un­to the doc­trine; cont­in­ue in them: for in do­ing this thou shalt both save thy­self, and them that hear thee.” —1 Timothy 4:16

“Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Je­sus. That good thing which was com­mitt­ed un­to thee keep by the Ho­ly Ghost which dwel­leth in us.” —2 Timothy 1:13-14

There are not many people having faith, and among those who have faith, fewer are found faithful. Faithful Christians are like pearls, rare and precious. God has set faithfulness as the requirement for His stewards:

“Let a man so ac­count of us, as of the min­is­ters of Christ, and ste­wards of the mys­teries of God. More­over it is re­quired in ste­wards, that a man be found faith­ful.” —1 Corinthians 4:1-2

God doesn’t require high intelligence, great wealth, or long health, but faithfulness.