MH page 500

Many become inefficient by evading responsibilities for fear of failure. Thus they fail of gaining that education which results from experience, and which reading and study and all the advantages otherwise gained cannot give them.

Evading responsibilities out of fear of failure leads to inefficiency and loss of experiential education. The statement links avoidance of responsibility to practical inefficiency and missed educational outcomes from experience.

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.

Individuals should master and utilize life circumstances as instruments rather than being controlled by them. This offers an ethical and motivational principle about personal agency and resilience.

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.

Facing opposition and obstacles calls forth energies that build self-reliance, trust, and firmness. The paragraph addresses personal development, resilience, and the character-building effects of overcoming difficulties.

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 mission 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 .

Christ's unsparing service, prayer, and devotion serve as an example for humanity. The paragraph is a narrative and spiritual recounting of Christ's labor, prayer life, and divine mission.

“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, one glance at the cross caused him to gird up anew the loins of his mind and press forward in the way of self-denial. In his labors for his brethren he relied much upon the manifestation of infinite love in the sacrifice of Christ, with its subduing, constraining power.

The love of Christ acts as the constraining motive power and principle of conduct for believers. This is a theological and spiritual reflection on Pauline motivation and religious devotion.