The Power of a Seed

I have always wondered, like the chicken and the egg analogy, which comes first faith or works? I am beginning to see that it is not a matter of what is first, they are synonymous with each other, you cannot have the power of faith to change a life or move a mountain, without the two working together “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”(James 2:22) “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.” (James 2:17-18.) Faith is not merely a belief in God, to believe in God is easy, many believe in God and their belief profit them nothing because their faith is dead. “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:19-20). So to, there are people who rightly can say I know the Church is true or I know the Savior is the redeemer of the world, but without the testimony of their works their faith is dead. Faith becomes the difference between knowing and doing. Faith in Christ is action; faith in Christ moves a person to follow after him, to obey his commandments. Action breads faith, which is power to do whatsoever the Lord commands. “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” (James 2:24)

Faith is like the water cycle, how can you say where it begins? In a recent sacrament meeting talk the speaker explained that Faith begins with knowledge and truth, he said that when a person hears the truth by the spirit, a seed of faith is planted. The works that follow the planting of the seed is what determines the fate of that seed. The parable of the sower of seeds is a perfect example.

“Behold a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds feel by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up.” (Matt 13:3-4) The people on the wayside are hard-hearted, unteachable, prideful, and is past feeling. These persons never hear the Gospel truth being taught because they do not recognize it as truth; the seeds in this heart never take root.

“Some fell upon stoney places, where they had not much earth: and forwith they sprung up, but they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root they withered away.”(Matt 13:5-6) These are the people of stoney ground they hear the words of the gospel but do not liken it unto themselves. They have very little soil to nourish the roots that must grow, therefore they loose faith and are discouraged easily. There souls are shallow and they do not have the desire to know the Gospel. They are they who live for the wrong reasons, who go to church because of what others think. Perhaps they only go to church to please their parents or spouse. They have not been truly converted to the gospel and have not cultivated their testimonies.

“And some feel among thorns, and the thorns sprung up and choked them.”(Matt 13:7) These are people of thorny-ground; they are careless with the things they have been taught. These people receive a testimony of the gospel but are not valiant in their testimony. They have placed themselves among the wicked of the world, they choose the wrong friends, and do not avoid the appearance of evil. Their favorite sins have become more important then their seeds of faith. These are they who allow the world to overpower them; they follow the wrong crowd and loose their way.

“But others fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some and hundred fold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold.” (Matt 13:8) These are they who have rich soil, deep souls; they easily adsorb and nourish the truth, likening it unto themselves. They are in tune with the Spirit, they have been valiant in their testimonies, and are on the path to perfection. It has taken time and effort to cultivate their soil to make it deep and rich and able to nourish their seeds of faith. They love God and desire to choose the right; they want to come to the Lord through humility and obedience. These are the people who will grow and learn hidden treasures of knowledge as they hear the plain and precious truths of the gospel. These are they who bring forth good fruit, works that testify of the goodness of their faith.

At times we may identify with one or all of these people, hopefully we have become the people of good ground, but most of us don’t start out that way. Most of us have spent our time around thorns, or have not been so well prepared to accept the truths of the gospel and show faith in Christ through obedience. For most of us our soil is prepared over time through our lives to be deeper and richer in order to learn truth and apply it with faith. I think this preparation is similar to the way rocks over time is broken down by the rains and waters and becomes soil. In our lives our trials and tribulations break us down into rich soil cultivated over time until we are sufficiently prepared by our experience to except the truth we hear. “Who hath ears to hear, let them hear…therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing hear not, neither do they understand” (Matt 13:13). The seed of faith is planted when we hear and understand truth, sadly sometimes we hear and do not understand because we are not sufficiently prepared to receive. Faith is the power we need to change our weakness to strengths, and to overcome our sins and gain eternal life, and to receive truth is to plant faith in our hearts.

When gospel truth is gently sown
In my unlearned heart,
I hope it finds no hardened crust
On wayside paths apart.

Nor even drops on softer spot
With hardness just below,
Where faithless poorly rooted sprouts
Are doomed to never grow.

I pray it shall not fall in dirt
Where thorns have made their bed,
Where choking plants, mid worldly cares
Grow fruitless, nearly dead.

But let that seed of faith find fertile soil
In deep and clean abode,
And drawing life yields true and full
To him who gently sowed.

The important question to me, as a life long member of the church, is how do we take someone who has lost their faith, and who has knowledge of the Gospel, and revive their faith when it has died? There was a bishop meeting with a young women in his office, the young women explained “I don’t think that I have faith anymore.” Her bishop asked her if she ever prayed, she said she did pray, her bishop then said, “If you get on your knees before the Lord and pray sincerely for what you are in need of, than you have at least a seed of faith.” Prayer denotes faith; it is an action by which we show that we believe in God. That we believe he is listening, and that he is there, even though we cannot see him. “Faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith” (Ether 12:6.)

Let us reason together, if faith is planted through hearing the truth, then how do we come to have ears to hear and eyes to see? “For the Spirit of the Lord will not always strive with man. And when the Spirit ceaseth to strive with man then cometh speedy destruction, and this grieveth my soul.” (2 Nephi 26:11) We can only hear truth through the Spirit of truth, the Holy Ghost. We must be worthy of the Spirit in order to receive truth; we must have “fertile soil in deep and clean abode.” “He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessings from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” (Psalms 24:4-5) Our cycle has now come full circle, in order to be able to hear truth we must be clean so that the Spirit can influence us. To be clean we must give up our sins and humble ourselves before God, we must turn away from selfishness and be honest with God, others, and ourselves. All of these things require action; action equals faith, faith equals action. The scripture says that through this we will receive righteousness from the God of our salvation, even Christ. Isn’t that what we are desirous of, isn’t righteousness the ultimate goal?

In conclusion, what is faith? Faith is not a thing it is an action, faith is a conviction and belief, a confidence in Christ that brings us to repentance and keeps us in the right path. “Remember that without faith you can do nothing.” (D&C 8:10) “And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.” (Moroni 7:33) Faith comes out of action, and out of faith comes power, the power to change, the power to repent. Repentance isn’t merely an admission of guilt or a sorrowful heart, it is the way by which we turn away from sinful behavior and begin again in doing what is right. It is the process by which we sacrifice our sins in order to come unto Christ. The power by which we repent is the power of faith. The stumbling block is our own pride, which prevents us from saying “not my will but thine.” “Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him.” (1 Nephi 7:12) This is my prayer and hope, that we will grow in our faith and conquer our sins.