Alma 32:36 - 32:40

Alma 32:36 Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither must ye lay aside your faith, for ye have only exercised your faith to plant the seed that ye might try the experiment to know if the seed was good.

After you have felt the increased influence can one quit using faith? Then answer is no. Up to this point, one has only exercised enough faith to plant the seed.

Alma 32:37 And behold, as the tree beginneth to grow, ye will say: Let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us. And now behold, if ye nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit.

The next step requires even more faith because you will want the seed to sprout into a tree. More faith is going to be required for the tree to grow to maturity. At maturity, the tree will then begin to give fruit which is the knowledge of what the gospel is all about.

Alma 32:38 But if ye neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it, because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it out.

The opposite will happen if you do not exercise the faith required to see to it that the seed turns into a tree. It will not take much to get you to forget the concept and go on to other things. It will be like the seed was not planted and was left lying on the ground exposed to the heat of the sun which in turn killed it.

Alma 32:39 Now, this is not because the seed was not good, neither is it because the fruit thereof would not be desirable; but it is because your ground is barren, and ye will not nourish the tree, therefore ye cannot have the fruit thereof.

This treatment of the seed was no reflection on the character of the seed. If could be either good or bad. The problem was again whether you cared for the seed properly so in time you could enjoy the fruit the tree was capable of producing.

Alma 32:40 And thus, if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life.

To sum up if you do not care for the seed properly when you get it, it will never give the fruit you have to potential to harvesting in the future. This is compared to the fruit that is the potential for all of us to pluck from the tree of life.