“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11). The word sincere comes from the Latin roots sem- meaning “one” and ceres meaning “growth.” So, essentially, the word sincere means “one growth.” All of us have the desire to be sincere. We want to say what we mean and mean what we say, walk the walk, and talk the talk. As advances in technology and society have given us more opportunities to do more wonderful things than at any point in history, being truly sincere is harder than ever. When gratification is instant and the algorithms are conspiring to bring to our attention the things that seem to be the most desirable practically before we realized that we need or even want them, it is very easy to overcommit ourselves to a huge variety of passions and interests and entanglements. It's like we have a patch of land and dozens of sowers keep showing up to throw all kinds of seeds right on top of each other over and over. What would our garden look like if carrots and peas and pomegranates and leeks and pistachios and papayas and peanuts are all trying to grow in the same place at the same time. Some plants require a lot of water and some very little. Some pull nitrogen out of the soil and some put it back in. Some need lots of sun and some need lots of shade. Trying to grow everything all at once will only end up with a bunch of stunted and choked and utterly fruitless plants. We need one growth. We need to dedicate our lives to a certain core set of principles and beliefs and make sure that none of the thoughts and desires that we entertain and carry in our minds and in our hearts are pulling us in opposite directions. When our entire being is dedicated and oriented toward one overarching desire, then we will not give space in our soul for any ideas or interests that will rob us of the energy and the space to pursue our goal. We will enjoy one, unified growth and will have the confidence to say no to anything that is not part of the one, and yes to anything that turns out to be part of the one but of which we were initially skeptical. I know that as we focus on the Savior to the extent that our love may abound, we will have that one growth of sincerity that is so successful that we will be filled with the fruits of righteousness.
