“Practice Virtue … Continually”

Virtue is “integrity and moral excellence.”¹ To practice virtue continually requires steady effort with an inspired to-do list. The verbs be and do are a doctrinal pair. Be without do—like faith without works or charity without ministering—“is dead, being alone” (James 2:17). Likewise, do without be describes those who “honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Mark 7:6). The Savior condemns do without be as hypocrisy (see Matthew 23:23; Mark 7:6).

People often have to-do lists and give themselves a checkmark after completing a task on the list. But you can’t earn checkmarks with be. For example, when can you check parenting off your list as done? You’re never through being a mother or a father, which is a lifelong effort.

We practice each virtue (be) through an inspired to-do list of corresponding actions. If I want to become more loving, what ministering actions can I do today to help me become more loving? If I want to become more patient, what can I do today to improve?

When we are at a moral crossroad in life, we often ask ourselves, What would Jesus do? When we do what He would do, we are practicing virtue and becoming like Him. If we go “about doing good” (Acts 10:38), as He did, with each additional good deed, we grow in love and compassion, and they become a part of our nature.

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fireflies

The Firefly Effect

The wonder of the firefly is seen only at nighttime. This enchanting little marvel of nature is unseen in the daytime. It takes a dark backdrop for the firefly’s light to become visible. It is the contrast that reveals its light.

The firefly and stars are examples in nature of how darkness is needed to reveal light that is otherwise hidden in plain view. Because the Light of Christ is ever present, many members of the Church don’t recognize the daily manifestations that inspire them to practice virtue.

A testimony of Christlike attributes is gained in great part by contrasting opposites, or “tast[ing] the bitter, that [we] may know to prize the good” (Moses 6:55). If Adam and Eve had not fallen, they would have had “no joy, for they knew no misery” (2 Nephi 2:23). President Brigham Young taught, “All facts are proved and made manifest by their opposite.”²

Children learn by contrasting opposites: yes/no, up/down, over/under, big/small, hot/cold, fast/slow, and so forth. It is the contrast that gives clearer understanding. Similarly, understanding a virtue requires a study of its opposite.

For example, we all want to be healthy, but gratitude for health and the desire to maintain it often come only after one has suffered health’s opposite: sickness, disease, injury. Even the Savior “learned … obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).

Sometimes a virtue is best described in terms of its opposite, such as “without hypocrisy” and “without guile” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:42), “not easily provoked” (Moroni 7:45), and so on.

Practicing virtue is not only a lifelong effort in developing Christlike attributes. It is also an effort in “denying [oneself] ungodliness and worldly lusts” (Titus 2:12; see also Joseph Smith Translation, Matthew 16:26 [in Matthew 16:24, footnote e]; Moroni 10:32). As we strive to develop a Christlike virtue, it grows as we eliminate its opposite: we “[put] off the natural man” as we “[become] a saint through the atonement of Christ” (Mosiah 3:19).

Applying the firefly effect to a sampling of attributes reveals the truth, power, and testimony of each one:

• Loving versus hateful, hostile, unfriendly

• Honest versus dishonest, deceitful, hypocritical

• Forgiving versus revengeful, resentful, bitter

• Kind versus mean, angry, unkind

• Patient versus short-tempered, hotheaded, intolerant

• Meek versus arrogant, conceited, condescending

• Peacemaker versus contentious, divisive, provoking

The contrast helps us see the strength of our testimonies of each virtue and how many spiritual experiences we are having each day with our conscience. The contrast reveals the Light of Christ to our plain view.

In excess, appetites become corrupt and need to be “[controlled] with judgment, not to excess” (Doctrine and Covenants 59:20). Passions can become compulsive; therefore, “bridle all your passions” (Alma 38:12). Desires can become erratic and fanatical, so be “temperate in all things” (1 Corinthians 9:25; Alma 7:23; 38:10; Doctrine and Covenants 12:8).

To further illustrate, here are a few virtues taken to an extreme:

• Boldness in excess becomes overbearing (see Alma 38:12).

• Diligence becomes burnout or running faster than you are able (see Mosiah 4:27).

• Honesty in excess becomes crass and tactless. This is excusable with children but not with adults who lack the virtues of being thoughtful, kind, and empathetic.

• Frugality in excess becomes selfish, stingy, miserly.

• Tolerance in excess becomes permissive, lax, laissez-faire.

• Love in excess becomes pampering, stifling, crippling, enabling.

Every virtue needs a complementary virtue or virtues, a divine check and balance, to keep it from becoming excessive. Just as the scales of justice symbolize the need for balance between justice and mercy, all virtues need a wise balance with their complementary virtues.

President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) shared this insight about the Savior: “In his life, all the virtues were lived and kept in perfect balance.”³

When people sense their life is out of balance or they are behaving in a fanatical or extreme way, it would be wise to consider what virtues are missing and needed in order to restore balance in their life. Otherwise, a virtue may become corrupted and a strength “can become our downfall,” as President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency, has taught.⁴

A half-truth is misleading because it is only partly true or may be totally true but only part of the whole truth . Some examples of half-truths with virtues:

• Agency without responsibility is what Korihor taught: “that every man conquered according to his strength; and whatsoever a man did was no crime” (Alma 30:17).

• Faith without works and mercy without justice are examples of what Nehor taught: “that all mankind should be saved … ; for the Lord had created all men, and had also redeemed all men; and, in the end, all men should have eternal life” (Alma 1:4).

• Justice without mercy is movingly depicted in the Victor Hugo masterpiece Les Misérables, in the character of Javert. Justice is a virtue only when moderated by mercy; otherwise, it becomes injustice, its opposite.

• Love and compassion without self-reliance are seen in the life of Helen Keller.⁵ Her parents had few or no expectations of their blind and deaf daughter. It was Anne Sullivan, a teacher of the blind and deaf, who introduced the complementary virtue of self-reliance and helped Helen rise to her true potential.

• Tolerance without truth and love without law devalue, compromise, and corrupt the Lord’s standards and result in apostasy by self-deception (see 4 Nephi 1:27).

• Conversely, law without love and truth without tolerance were epitomized by the Pharisees and resulted in apostasy by pride.

• Being righteous without being inclusive (see Luke 15:1–7) can lead to self-righteousness, prejudice, and hypocrisy.

• Faith and hope without patience (the Lord “doth immediately bless you” [Mosiah 2:24], yet “he trieth their patience” [Mosiah 23:21]) can lead to self-doubt and loss of faith.

Every virtue is a half-truth unless counterbalanced by its complementary virtue(s) necessary for doctrinal equipoise.

As the “father of contention” (3 Nephi 11:29), Satan cunningly stirs up anger by pitting virtues against one another with a “versus” mentality, such as justice versus mercy. But the Lord “counseleth … in justice, and in great mercy” (Jacob 4:10; emphasis added). These two virtues are not opposites but complementary. To achieve a perfect balance, it is doctrinally more accurate and wiser to say:

• Justice and mercy (as opposed to justice versus injustice)

• Agency and responsibility

• Faith and works

• Religious/covenant keeping (outward) and spiritual/discipleship (inward)

• Uniformity and flexibility

• Unity and diversity

• Letter of the law and spirit of the law

• Reverence/solemnity and joy/sociality

• Boldness and meekness

• Valor and discretion

• Discipline and lovingkindness

• Fairness for all and uncompromising

• Gentleness and firmness

• “Let your light so shine before men” (Matthew 5:16) and not “aspir[ing] to the honors of men” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:35)

• And so forth

At the heart of the two great commandments—to love God and to love our neighbor—is the virtue of charity. “On these two commandments,” Jesus said, “hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40). Elder James E. Talmage (1862–1933) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles called charity the “first and great and all-embracing commandment” and observed that it is the greatest “on the basis of the simple and mathematical truth that the whole is greater than any part.”⁶

“And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:9–10). Love is the virtue that moves humankind from the law of Moses to the law of the gospel.

Because of charity’s encompassing nature, all other virtues might be said to be its component virtues, for it “suffereth long,” it “is kind,” it “envieth not,” and it “is not puffed up” (see 1 Corinthians 13:4–8; Moroni 7:45).

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little girl tossing a spoon

Consider this example: When a mother gives a spoon to her young child, it is an insightful case study of charity, or Christlike love. Think of the many virtues in this scenario: trust, love, hope, self-reliance, tolerance (for messes and defiance), gentleness, kindness, patience, calmness, firmness, persuasion, and so on. The mother “is not easily provoked, … beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. [Her] charity never faileth” (1 Corinthians 13:5, 7–8).

How grateful we are for a loving Father in Heaven whose charity is patient and long-suffering with the messes we make in our lives!

Is it any wonder, then, why the scriptures identify charity as “the greatest” (1 Corinthians 13:13; Moroni 7:46), as “a more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31), and as “above all things”? (1 Peter 4:8). In essence, the invitation to “pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love” (Moroni 7:48) is an invitation to pray for all virtues and to strive for a perfect balance among them. Without balance, even charity can be taken to an extreme, such as with Helen Keller’s loving but permissive and indulgent parents.

In Preach My Gospel chapter 6, “Seek Christlike Attributes,” missionaries are taught that “Christlike attributes are gifts from God. Like all good things, these gifts come through ‘the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost’ (Ether 12:41). … Pray for God to bless you with these attributes. Humbly acknowledge your weakness and your need for His power in your life. As you do, He will ‘make weak things become strong unto [you]’ (Ether 12:27).”⁷

To practice virtue successfully requires balancing faith in Jesus Christ and prayer and “cheerfully do[ing] all things that lie in our power” (Doctrine and Covenants 123:17).

Moroni taught us that our hope of becoming like Jesus Christ is centered in Him: “Come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall … love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ” (Moroni 10:32).

May the Lord’s sermon of a lifetime become the prayer and quest of ours. As we “practice virtue … continually” (Doctrine and Covenants 46:33; emphasis added), “virtue [will] garnish [our] thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:45; emphasis added).