Development and Service
251
Many who are qualified to do excellent work accomplish little
because they attempt little. Thousands pass through life as if they had
no great object for which to live, no high standard to reach. One reason
for this is the low estimate which they place upon themselves. Christ
paid an infinite price for us, and according to the price paid He desires
us to value ourselves.
Be not satisfied with reaching a low standard. We are not what we
might be, or what it is God’s will that we should be. God has given us
reasoning powers, not to remain inactive, or to be perverted to earthly
and sordid pursuits, but that they may be developed to the utmost,
refined, sanctified, ennobled, and used in advancing the interests of
His kingdom....
Remember that in whatever position you may serve, you are re-
vealing motive, developing character. Whatever your work, do it with
exactness, with diligence; overcome the inclination to seek an easy
task.
The same spirit and principles that one brings into the daily labor
will be brought into the whole life. Those who desire a fixed amount
to do and a fixed salary, and who wish to prove an exact fit without
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the trouble of adaptation or training, are not the ones whom God
calls to work in His cause. Those who study how to give as little as
possible of their physical, mental, and moral power, are not the workers
upon whom He can pour out abundant blessings. Their example is
contagious. Self-interest is the ruling motive. Those who need to
be watched and who work only as every duty is specified to them,
are not the ones who will be pronounced good and faithful. Workers
are needed who manifest energy, integrity, diligence; those who are
willing to do anything that needs to be done.
Many become inefficient by evading responsibilities for fear of
failure. Thus they fail of gaining that education which results from ex-
perience, and which reading and study and all the advantages otherwise
gained, cannot give them.
Man can shape circumstances, but circumstances should not be
allowed to shape the man. We should seize upon circumstances as
instruments with which to work. We are to master them, but should
not permit them to master us.
Men of power are often those who have been opposed, baffled, and
thwarted. By calling their energies into action, the obstacles they meet