I thank God for the Salvation Army that William Booth started with the poor in London. His vision for ministry has impacted my own, and one thing I have heard stands high above the rest.
When William Booth was a very old man, the Salvation Army was holding a convention, and they wanted him to come and speak. He was too old and weakened by illness, so they asked him if he would send them a telegram since he couldn’t come. He said he would do that. When it arrived, the telegram consisted of only one word. What do you think it said? “Others!”
Another story from the Salvation Army bears repeating here as well. When the Empress of Ireland went down with 130 Salvation Army officers on board in 1914, 109 of the officers drowned. And not one that was picked up had on a life belt. The few survivors told how the Salvationists, finding there were not enough life-preservers for all, took off their own belts and strapped them upon even strong men, saying, ‘”I can die better than you can,” and from the deck of that sinking boat they flung their battle cry around the world: “Others!”
Romans 15:1 says, “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.”
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