we all need helpers to teach us humility

Increased humility draws us closer to Jesus Christ. This will help us overcome questions about the Lord’s doctrine. When we are humble, we can more clearly hear the Lord’s voice. We all need helpers to teach us humility. I share an early personal experience that helped get me back on the path of humility.

In my first year as a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, a famous faculty member died, and the dean asked me to teach his classes for several weeks until a suitable teacher could be provided. The legal subject was one with which I was not very familiar, so I struggled hard and finally felt like congratulating myself on fulfilling the assignment.

Afterward, a student gave me what I thought was going to be a compliment. He said, “Mr. Oaks, I was in that class you taught for Professor [so and so], and I must tell you I was really impressed. You will make a good teacher someday.”

Why did that experience help me? I was overly confident in my abilities as a teacher, and that student provided a perspective that has blessed me to this day.

President Dallin H. Oaks

"Coming Closer to Jesus Christ," BYU Speeches. February 10, 2026. See also Russell M. Nelson, “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives,” Ensign, May 2018.