2.103 Ye Shall Clear Away the Bad According as the Good Shall Grow
Show Notes
Join Allen Roberds on Savory Salt as he reflects on Jacob 5:66, emphasizing the principle of 'clearing away the bad according as the good shall grow.' This episode delves into effective strategies for replacing bad habits with good ones, fostering both personal and spiritual growth.
Key Points
- Jacob 5:66 offers a powerful insight into habit change, suggesting that we replace bad behaviors with good ones rather than simply stopping them.
- Drawing on principles from 'The Power of Habit,' the episode explains that introducing new, good habits can naturally push out unwanted, detrimental ones, avoiding voids that lead to backsliding.
- Listeners are encouraged to apply this scriptural wisdom to all aspects of their lives, recognizing that personal growth opportunities are inherently spiritual.
- The Lord's counsel in Jacob chapter 5 provides a practical framework for continuous self-improvement and spiritual development.
Here's an opportunity to bring in the good habit and introduce it in a way that gradually pushes out the bad habit in our lives.
Episode Resources
Full Transcript
In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, a bold reminder that our lives are meant to carry his flavor, his truth, and his love to the world. Join me each day to explore one verse of scripture and one thought, striving to stay full of savor and truly live as savory salt. Hello, my friends.
Great to have you with me. Today, let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. Welcome to our final thought of the week as we've gone through Doctrine and Covenants section 30 through 36, as well as Jacob chapter 5.
I know we're reading 5 through 7 and the Book of Enos, and we're just going to capture a couple of those thoughts at the beginning of next week. But as we dive into Jacob chapter 5 here today, there was one more thought I wanted to kind of link to yesterday's thought with the idea of what the Lord has done in helping us, right? How he's nourished and how he's stretched forth his hand in helping us.
Today we're going to look at Jacob chapter 5 verse 66. The Lord repeats, as he said yesterday, 'for it grieveth me that.' We get from our reading today, let's take a look at Jacob chapter 5 verse 66. Now, did you catch the little phrase inside of there about how the bad gets swept out of the vineyard?
Because I think the opportunity for us inside of this is a chance to see how we can replace the bad habits in our lives or the things that are detrimental to our growth with things that are going to help us. The phrase says, "Wherefore ye shall clear away the bad according as the good shall grow." I can't remember which book this comes out of. I think it might be "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg, but I could be mistaken here.
Inside of that book, as he's talking about what habits do, how we develop habits, there's an aspect in there where he explains that one of the things that makes it so hard to change a habit is that people want to just stop their habits completely. And when they do that, they don't consider the amount of time that creates a void in their life. And I think the example that he gives is a smoking example, right?
If someone wants to stop smoking, they don't realize that perhaps smoking a cigarette takes 15 minutes of their day. When they just stop, all of a sudden there's this 15 minute gap. And most people tend to just slide back in their habitual ways of thinking and end up smoking again.
I think the Lord gives us some insight here in verse 66 into how we can continue to modify the behaviors in our lives that we don't want, those detrimental or bad habits and behaviors. And we do it by "clearing away the bad according as the good shall grow." So that's an opportunity for us to look and say, what good habits do I want? And as I start to implement those good habits into my life, how do they gradually move out the bad habits of my life?
I think that's the way the Lord's clearing the vineyard here inside of Jacob chapter five. They're going to "clear away the bad according as the good shall grow." So my friends, when it comes to areas in your life that you want to increase in spirituality, here's an opportunity, rather than just stopping it all and creating voids in our lives that are difficult for us to overcome those habits. Here's an opportunity to bring in the good habit and introduce it in a way that gradually pushes out the bad habit in our lives.
I love that insight. I love the opportunity that the Scriptures provide for us to see personal growth as well as spiritual growth in our lives. While spiritual growth is a part of our personal growth, I think a lot of times people just kind of leave personal growth out and don't really reflect on it as a spiritual opportunity.
And yet the Lord sees it. Remember in all things, as we've talked about in Doctrine and Covenants, all things are spiritual unto the Lord. So this is an opportunity for us to remove the bad "according as the good shall grow." I love it.
I'm excited to dive in more as we continue on into the new week. And into "Come, Follow Me" as we shift into an Easter message as well. That's all for today, my friends.
Lift up your hearts and rejoice. Cleave unto the covenants you have made and together we will be savory salt.
This transcript was generated using AI and may contain errors. I do my best to review and edit them when I can.