30
Help In Daily Living
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.
[45]
Man can shape circumstances, but circumstances should not be
allowed to shape the man. We should seize upon circumstances as
instruments by which to work. We are to master them, but should not
permit them to master us.
Men of power are those who have been opposed, baffled, and
thwarted. By calling their energies into action, the obstacles they meet
prove to them positive blessings. They gain self-reliance. Conflict and
perplexity call for the exercise of trust in God and for that firmness
which develops power.
The Motive in Service
Christ gave no stinted service. He did not measure His work by
hours. His time, His heart, His soul and strength, were given to labor
for the benefit of humanity. Through weary days He toiled, and through
long nights He bent in prayer for grace and endurance that He might
do a larger work. With strong crying and tears He sent His petitions to
heaven, that His human nature might be strengthened, that He might be
braced to meet the wily foe in all his deceptive workings, and fortified
to fulfill His missions of uplifting humanity. To His workers He says,
“I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done.”
John
13:15
.
[46]
“The love of Christ,” said Paul, “constraineth us.”
2 Corinthians
5:14
. This was the actuating principle of his conduct; it was his motive
power. If ever his ardor in the path of duty flagged for a moment,