Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfall | Dallin H. Oaks

If we are not wary, Satan can cause our spiritual downfall by corrupting us through our strengths as well as by exploiting our weaknesses.

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"Like the fabled Achilles, who was immune to every lethal blow except to his heel, many of us have a special weakness that can be exploited to our spiritual downfall. For some that weakness may be a taste for liquor. For some it may be an unusual vulnerability to sexual temptation or a susceptibility to compulsive gambling or reckless speculation. For others it may be a craving for money or power. If we are wise, we will know our special weaknesses, our spiritual Achilles’ heels, and fortify ourselves against temptations in those areas.

But our weaknesses are not the only areas where we are vulnerable. Satan can also attack us where we think we are strong—in the very areas where we are proud of our strengths. He will approach us through the greatest talents and spiritual gifts we possess. If we are not wary, Satan can cause our spiritual downfall by corrupting us through our strengths as well as by exploiting our weaknesses. I will illustrate this truth with a score of examples...

I need to caution myself and each of my listeners that the very nature of this message could tend to the same downfall that it warns against. This idea that our strengths can become our weaknesses could be understood to imply that we should have “moderation in all things.” But the Savior said that if we are lukewarm, he will spue us out of his mouth (see Revelation 3:16). Moderation in all things is not a virtue because it would seem to justify moderation in commitment. That is not moderation but indifference. That kind of “moderation” runs counter to the divine commands to serve with all of our “heart, might, mind and strength” (D&C 4:2), to “seek . . . earnestly the riches of eternity” (D&C 68:31), and to be “valiant in the testimony of Jesus” (D&C 76:79). Moderation is not the answer.

How, then, do we prevent our strengths from becoming our downfall? The quality we must cultivate is humility. Humility is the great protector. Humility is the antidote against pride. Humility is the catalyst for all learning, especially spiritual things.

Through the prophet Ether, the Lord gave us this great insight into the role of humility:

I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. [Ether 12:27]

We might also say that if men and women humble themselves before God, he will help them prevent their strengths from becoming weaknesses that the adversary can exploit to destroy them.

If we are meek and humble enough to receive counsel, the Lord can and will guide us through the counsel of our parents, our teachers, and our leaders. The proud can only hear the clamor of the crowd, but a person who “becometh as a child”—as King Benjamin said, “submissive, meek [and] humble” (Mosiah 3:19)—can hear and follow the still small voice by which our Father in Heaven guides his children who are receptive.

A person who engages in self-congratulation over a supposed strength has lost the protection of humility and is vulnerable to Satan’s using that strength to produce his or her downfall. In contrast, if we are humble and teachable, hearkening to the commandments of God, the counsel of his leaders, and the promptings of his spirit, we can be guided. We can be guided in how to use our spiritual gifts, our accomplishments, and all of our other strengths for righteousness. And we can be guided in how to avoid Satan’s efforts to use our strengths to cause our downfall.

In all of this, we should remember and rely on the Lord’s direction and promise:

Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers. [D&C 112:10]" - Elder Oaks

Dallin H. Oaks was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when this fireside
address was given at Brigham Young University on 7 June 1992.

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