There is a story told of two brothers who were fighting in the trenches during World War I. The younger was lying wounded in action in “no-man’s land,” the deadly area that lay between the opposing armies. When the older brother in the trench heard of the plight of his younger brother in the field, he said to his officer, “I’ve got to go get him!”

His officer said, “It’s impossible! You’ll be killed the minute you stick your head out of this trench. You know the enemy always opens fire the minute we go over the top!”

But the older brother tore himself loose from his officer’s grip, scrambled out of the trench, and plunged into no-man’s land to find his kid brother, despite the enemy’s fire. He soon found him, mortally wounded, and whispering, “I knew you’d come!”

The older brother, himself now also wounded, barely managed to drag his younger brother back to the Allied lines. Both of them fell down into the trench, dying.

With tears streaming down his face, the officer said to the older brother, “Why did you do it? I told you you’d be killed!”

But the older brother replied with a final smile, “I had to do it! You see, he expected it of me. I couldn’t fail him.”

-David Brandt Berg

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Hereby perceive we the love of God: Because He [Jesus] laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren (The Bible, 1 John 3:16).

* * *
The glory of life
Is to love, not to be loved;
To serve, not to be served;
To be a strong hand in the dark

To another in the time of need;
To be a cup of strength to any soul
In a crisis of weakness.
That is to know the glory of life.
* * *
God cares for people through people.

* * *
A man cannot touch his neighbor’s heart with anything less than his own.

* * *
If your heart is full of love, you always have something to give.

* * *
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people would simply do what Jesus said to do? Jesus said, “Love thy neighbor as thyself” (The Bible, Matthew 22:39), but when people don’t treat others with much love, they’re going to have problems.-And they have. Believe it or not, it is possible to say that all of the evils in the world today have their root cause in people’s lack of love for God and each other. Nevertheless, the simple love of God and each other is still God’s solution, even in such a complex, confused and highly complicated society as that of the world today. If we love God, we can love each other and even respect each other as creations of God. We can then follow His rules of life, liberty and the possession of happiness, and all will be well and happy in Him.

So ask God to help you love your neighbors with His love. And remember, “neighbor” doesn’t only mean the one who lives next door. It is anyone we meet who needs our help, regardless of their race, creed, color, or nationality.

-DBB

For Others

Lord, help me live from day to day
In such a self-forgetful way,
That even when I kneel to pray,
My prayers will be for others.

Help me in all the work I do
To ever be sincere and true,
And know that all I do for You
Has to be done for others.

Let self be crucified and slain
And buried deep, and all in vain
May efforts be to rise again-
Unless to live for others.

And when my work on earth is done
And my new work in Heaven begun,
May I forget the crown I’ve won
While thinking still of others.

Others, Lord, yes, others!
-Let this my motto be.
Help me to live for others,
That I may live like Thee.

-Elizabeth A. Fenley

He Expected It of Me!, Copyright © 1998-2012, The Family International