But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life. - Alma 32:41
Given that we touched on faith yesterday, I thought I'd focus on diligence tonight.
In living the gospel, it's not enough to perform a few, grand, faith-asserting actions and trust that that'll be enough to get you all the blessings God offers. Getting baptized doesn't instantly or permanently ensure that we are "saved." One trip to the temple isn't enough to guarantee exaltation. We can't just get our ordinances done and call it a day.
I believe that God cares far more about who we are than He cares about what we've done. Usually, that belief is an uplifting message about repentance: As long as we have become good people, it doesn't matter much what sins are in our past. Unfortunately for some people, the inverse is also true. Having been baptized doesn't mean much for someone who has broken their covenants and quit following the path. Individual good acts won't have much more impact than individual sins, and individual grand gestures in either direction don't generally account for much.
Instead, what's important is to be diligent in doing good, not in big ways a few times, but in little ways countless times. We need to develop patterns and habits of doing good, not just rely on a few flashy outliers. Living the gospel isn't a matter of doing a few great things in a few, special moments. It's a matter of doing good in little ways every day.
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