Have you ever noticed that good gardeners do two important things? God gave Adam a job with two equal parts!

“The Lord God put him in the Garden of Eden to work it” – the first job is active cultivation! This means planting, weeding, harvesting, and developing the garden’s potential. God wants us to be productive, not lazy. But there’s a second equally important job: “and take care of it” – this means protecting, preserving, and maintaining what we’re working with.

These two duties must balance! Some people only work creation without caring for it – they exploit and damage what God made. Others want to only preserve without working – they won’t use creation’s resources productively. God’s design requires both! We should actively use and develop creation’s potential while carefully protecting and maintaining it. That’s what faithful stewardship looks like!