Inside Story for Friday 1st of March 2024

By Andrew McChesney

During his first few weeks in the military, Sekule was sent with a company of soldiers to work on a mountain in the former Yugoslavia. On a Friday afternoon, he received orders to shovel coal into the Sabbath hours.

“You have to shovel for 15 minutes, take a 10-minute rest, and then shovel again for 15 minutes,” the commanding officer said.

“I will shovel for 2.5 hours without stopping until the sun goes down, but then I will stop,” Sekule said.

“No one can shovel for two hours,” the officer said.

“I can,” Sekule said.

Sekule, who had learned to work hard while growing up in Montenegro, shoveled as quickly as he could. Other soldiers cautioned him to slow down.

“Why are you working so quickly?” they asked.

“I’m trying to do as much as I can to leave less work for the rest of you,” he replied. “I don’t care about myself. I just want to do the most that I can.”

His words built respect among the other soldiers. They saw that he wanted to help them. To everyone’s surprise, Sekule succeeded in shoveling the required amount of coal by sunset.

But the commanding officer didn’t seem to grasp his desire to keep the Sabbath. On another Sabbath, the officer read a list of duties to the soldiers and declared, “You will work today.”

Sekule stood tall. “Today is my Sabbath, and I can’t do any work,” he said. He knew that he might face prison if he said, “I won’t do any work,” so instead, he chose his words carefully and said, “I can’t do any work.”

“What do you mean ‘can’t’?” the officer asked.

“I’m a Seventh-day Adventist, and I can’t work on Sabbath,” Sekule said.

The officer stood tall and glared at Sekule. “Soldier, who will work in your place then?” he said.

All the other soldiers stood tall. “We will work in his place then,” they said in unison.

Sekule realized at that moment that it was important not only to be faithful to God but also to be faithful to people. Jesus said, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31; NKJV). Sekule saw that if he treated others fairly, they also would treat him fairly.

Sekule Sekuli´c is an affluent entrepreneur and faithful Seventh-day Adventist in Montenegro. Read more of his story next week. Thank you for your Sabbath School mission offerings that help spread the good news of Jesus’ soon coming in Montenegro and around the world.