Beyond Today Daily

Am I My Brother's Keeper?

The Marines live and die by their creed, "No man left behind." How can we apply this Biblical principle to simpler acts of life?

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[Darris McNeely] The United States Marine Corps have a saying that they will leave no man behind. What it means is, on the battlefield, they bring off all the wounded. It’s a good saying. It’s actually rooted in an idea that Cain asked of his own actions when he murdered his brother Abel and God confronted him with it, and he said, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”. The implication is, yes, you are. We are our brother’s keeper and this Marine Corps motto, it brings it home in many different ways.

I recently saw two movies that illustrated this. The first movie was called The Martian. It’s a popular movie out right now. It’s a science fiction movie, but it’s based on the idea of an astronaut being left behind on the planet Mars, and his comrades making a decision to go back and to attempt to rescue this man. It’s a compelling movie and it illustrates this point quite well.

The second movie that I saw was entitled 13 Hours. This is a true story. It’s a bit more controversial because it is a movie that deals with the attack by Islamic fundamentalists four years ago in Benghazi, Libya upon the American consulate there, and the killing of four Americans including the United States ambassador Christopher Stevens. That movie told in that – tells that story, 13 Hours, where also, there is that element there of “no man left behind”, and the efforts, the desire to go and to rescue those entrapped Americans and the drama, the decisions that were made surrounding that.

Both of these movies illustrate this point, “No man left behind”, and I think tell us and teach us an important lesson about the fact indeed, we are our brother’s keeper, and that we need to take whatever opportunity, in some of the more simpler aspects of life, to look after one another, to care for one another, and to make sure that we pull each other along and help each other succeed in life. When God confronted Cain with his sin, a great lesson was laid down for all of humanity: that we are our brother’s keeper, we should leave no man behind. Keep that in mind in relationships that we have to deal with on an everyday basis.

That’s BT Daily. Join us next time.

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Darris McNeely

Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43 years. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a resident faculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren.