John 15:12-17 (NIV) says:

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit–fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.”

In Ernest Gordon’s book, Miracle on the River Kwai, the author tells of Scottish soldiers in World War II who had been captured by the Japanese and forced to work on a jungle railroad. The Scotchmen, tired and hopeless, had degenerated to barbarous behavior, treating each other viciously.

Then one afternoon a shovel was missing. The Japanese officer in charge of the work gang became enraged and threatened to kill the whole group if the man who lost the shovel did not confess. Finally one man, knowing it meant his death, stepped forward. The officer put away his gun, picked up a shovel and beat the life out of the man.

At the next tool check it was discovered that no shovel was missing. In fact, there was one shovel left over – there had been a miscount at the first check point. The man who died had confessed to losing a shovel that he, in fact, had not lost, sacrificing his life to keep the others safe. That man’s sacrificial love changed the survivors. They began once again to treat each other like brothers.

Selfless sacrifice changes lives. How could you affect your friends around you if you lived out a life of selfless sacrifice? Think about a selfless act you can do today and then do it.

Author unknown. If anyone has a proprietary interest in this story please authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as the circumstances dictate.

Thanks to Randy Walker Join-Inspirations@simplelist.com