Stronger and Stronger in Humility (or Pride)

I started a new fitness training program about six weeks ago. The first couple of weeks were pretty tough; after each workout I was painfully aware how out of shape I was. But the past few workouts, I’ve felt comparatively much stronger. I know there will be ups and downs along the way, but I also have a renewed appreciation for the improvement that only comes with consistent effort.

Mormon tells us about a period of time when church members experienced persecution but nevertheless grew spiritually through consistent religious practices:

They did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.

Helaman 3:35

The process was gradual. It didn’t happen all at once. They may not have had dramatic experiences during any specific prayer or fast. Instead, it appears that the combined effect of consistent prayer and fasting produced the desired change gradually.

Unfortunately, about thirty years later, they experienced the opposite pattern, this time by forgetting God, breaking His commandments, and failing to repent.

They did wax stronger and stronger in their pride, and in their wickedness; and thus they were ripening again for destruction.

Helaman 11:37

Like the spiritual growth, this depravity increased gradually, one day at a time, through individual decisions. Look at how Mormon described their state over the prior three years:

• “In the eighty and second year they began again to forget the Lord their God.”
• “And in the eighty and third year they began to wax strong in iniquity.”
• “And in the eighty and fourth year they did not mend their ways.”

(Helaman 11:36)

What’s noteworthy about this description is that the pride grew not because of what they were doing but because of what they were not doing. They didn’t make the effort to remember God. They didn’t make course corrections in their behavior. As Mormon tells us in an earlier passage, if you’re not vigilant, pride will “grow upon [you] from day to day” (Helaman 3:36). That kind of “strength” isn’t very appealing to me. It’s like becoming “stronger and stronger in flabbiness” by failing to exercise.

Elder Robert D. Hales encouraged us to make spiritual fitness a consistent practice:

Begin exercising your faith in every area of your life. If you don’t, you will suffer what I would call “faith atrophy.” The very strength needed to exercise your faith will be diminished. So exercise your faith every day, and you will “wax stronger and stronger … and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ.”

“Meeting the Challenges of Today’s World,” General Conference, October 2015

Today, I will engage in the spiritual activities which will increase my humility and faith: prayer, scripture study, repentance, and service. I will remember that, like my physical fitness, my spiritual fitness requires consistent effort, and that I may only see the results over time, as I gradually become “stronger and stronger.”