Acknowledging Weaknesses with Humility

There's a link on LDS.org right now which says "The First Step Toward Potential Is Acknowledging Weakness." If you follow that link, it'll take you to President Uchtdorf's Priesthood Session talk, "Lord, Is It I?" This morning, I'd like to share a few quotes from that talk and maybe a scripture or two to expand on the topic of why acknowledging weaknesses, not just having them, is essential to making progress toward overcoming them.

Near the end of his talk, President Uchtdorf said:

Being able to see ourselves clearly is essential to our spiritual growth and well-being. If our weaknesses and shortcomings remain obscured in the shadows, then the redeeming power of the Savior cannot heal them and make them strengths. Ironically, our blindness toward our human weaknesses will also make us blind to the divine potential that our Father yearns to nurture within each of us.

God doesn't really change people; He helps people change themselves. Because of this, He can't remove our weaknesses unless we want to have them removed - and not only that; we need to put forth the effort to remove our weaknesses ourselves. This is sometimes difficult because, as President Uchtdorf said, "none of us likes to admit when we are drifting off the right course. Often we try to avoid looking deeply into our souls and confronting our weaknesses, limitations, and fears." We don't like having to acknowledge our weaknesses, and sometimes, we don't want to try to overcome them.

You may have heard the phrase "favorite sin" before. It refers to anything that God has commanded us not to do that we enjoy doing. Examples for some may include drinking coffee or alcoholic beverages, playing violent (or semi-violent) video games, playing or watching sports on Sundays, or anything else that's "fun" or enjoyable that God has commanded us to avoid. A person's "favorite sin" may be a bad habit that they don't want to admit is "bad" or a "habit," or that they know is a bad habit, but don't think it's worth the effort of trying to overcome. For these and other reasons, sometimes people don't want to change the way God tells us we have to. Yet, the desire to change is necessary because God will not change us against our will.

A popular, Book of Mormon scripture to use when talking about overcoming weaknesses is Ether 12:27.

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. 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.

To help God turn our weaknesses into strengths, we need to be humble enough to admit that we have weaknesses and that they are weaknesses, and we need to have enough faith in God to know that we'd do well to overcome them, and have faith in His directions on how to overcome them.

Often, people let pride get in the way. We don't want to acknowledge that we have weaknesses, and even when we do, we usually want to overcome our weaknesses our way rather than God's way. Through His prophets, God has given us advice on overcoming nearly every vice known to man. We can follow His advice, or we can work out our own methods. It's up to us. I'll admit that since everyone is different, what works well for one person may not work well for others, but it's still wise to let the Lord help you find the methods that will work best for us. He knows us better than we know ourselves, and He knows our weaknesses, and how to overcome them, a lot better than we do. Some truths are universal; they're true for everyone, so we should look to the prophets and scriptures for those universal truths. Meanwhile, God may have some advice that's specifically for us, and we'll need to obtain that by personal revelation. Whether through personal revelation or prophetic counsel, God will give us directions if we're humble enough to receive and follow them.

Ask anyone: the first step to overcoming a problem is admitting that you have one. The second and less well-known step is having a desire to overcome the problem. Then, your success in overcoming your weaknesses may depend on how well you follow God's directions for how to do that. Each of those steps requires humility. We have to be humble in order to change.