According as the Good Shall Grow

In the final section of the allegory of the olive trees, the Lord commanded the servant to “graft in the branches” and to nourish the trees one more time. He said, “Wherefore, dig about them, and prune them, and dung them once more, for the last time, for the end draweth nigh. And if it be so that these last grafts shall grow, and bring forth the natural fruit, then shall ye prepare the way for them, that they may grow.” They were to graft in branches into the trees and do everything they could to help them bring forth good fruit. He then gave this interesting instruction, “And as they begin to grow ye shall clear away the branches which bring forth bitter fruit, according to the strength of the good and the size thereof; and ye shall not clear away the bad thereof all at once, lest the roots thereof should be too strong for the graft, and the graft thereof shall perish, and I lose the trees of my vineyard.” In other words, they were not to rid the tree of all of the bad branches right away, but this was the instruction: “Wherefore ye shall clear away the bad according as the good shall grow, that the root and the top may be equal in strength, until the good shall overcome the bad, and the bad be hewn down and cast into the fire” (Jacob 5:63-66). They were to remove the bad branches only as the good grew; they were not to simply take out all of the bad at once or the grafting in of the good would not work.

                This idea reminds me of the parable of the wheat and the tares. The Savior recounted it this way: “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.” After being told that an enemy had done this, the servants asked, “Wilt thou then that we go and gather [the tares] up?” The man responded, “Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn” (Matthew 13:24-30). Like in the allegory of the olive trees, the people were not to root out immediately all of the bad. If they did they might at the same time kill the good; they were to wait for things to grow and the good to gain strength, and then they could eventually gather up all of the tares and burn them and preserve the wheat.

                The principle I believe that these two stories teach is that we can’t expect overcome sin and weakness all at once. We must work each day to be a little better, to grow the good just a little more, while accepting that it will take time to root out the sins and bad habits and unholy behaviors from ourselves. And we should especially not expect those who are new in the gospel—whether our own children or new converts—to immediately change all behaviors that are contrary to the principles of the gospel. If we insist on seeing improvement too rapidly or with too much pressure, we might kill the good while intending to root out the evil. We don’t become saints in a day, but as we work to “clear away the branches which bring forth bitter fruit” one by one “according to the strength of the good,” we can find incremental improvement. This is I believe what Brother Brad Wilcox was teaching when he spoke of young man he called Damon who struggled with pornography. He related, “Considering how long Damon had struggled, it was unhelpful and unrealistic for parents and leaders assisting him to say ‘never again’ too quickly or to arbitrarily set some standard of abstinence to be considered ‘worthy.’ Instead, they started with small, reachable goals. They got rid of the all-or-nothing expectations and focused on incremental growth, which allowed Damon to build on a series of successes instead of failures. He, like the enslaved people of Limhi, learned he could ‘prosper by degrees.’” Brother Wilcox then quoted this statement from Elder Christofferson: “To deal with something [very] big, we may need to work at it in small, daily bites. … Incorporating new and wholesome habits into our character or overcoming bad habits or addictions [most] often means an effort today followed by another tomorrow and then another, perhaps for many days, even months and years. … But we can do it because we can appeal to God … for the help we need each day.” We should work each day to “clear away the bad as the good shall grow” in our own lives and help our loved ones do the same. And when we see behaviors in ourselves or our loved ones not in harmony with the gospel, we should not judge too harshly but rather remember that in the end the tares will all be burned. But we may not be able to root it all out today. As long as we continue to encourage the good to grow, one day the bad in all of us will be “hewn down and [be] cast into the fire” and we “shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure” (Moroni 7:48).