Our Brother’s Keeper

“And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen. 4:8,9). We’re all familiar with the famous saying by the infamous Cain; “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The evident connotation here is that we don’t want to be like Cain, who murdered his brother; but rather we DO need to be our brother’s keeper. The beloved apostle said the same: “For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous” (I Jn. 3:11,12). If we’re going to be our brother’s [and sister’s] keeper, what would be the main rule of thumb that we need to keep? I believe it comes from what I consider to be the greatest promise of God that he has made to his children: “for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb. 13:5). I can’t think of anything that could possibly mean more to us than the promise that God will never leave or abandon us. As long as God is with us, and he is, then no matter how hard things get; we know that we can make it through because we have the absolute security of the creator, and the judge, and the savior of all the world being with us through it all. This means that we are never without hope, regardless of how bad things may look and feel. I have to tell you, that is a heck of a lot better than NOT having that security. In fact it makes all the difference, and I know because I’ve been on both ends of that stick in my lifetime. So what does all this have to do with us being our brother’s keeper? I think it’s really self evident, but let’s allow the scriptures to steer us into the truth of the matter: “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour” (Eph. 5:1,2).

So we are called to be “follower’s of God,” and that means that we are to walk in his love toward one another. If we are truly following God then that has to mean that we are going to be of the same mind and nature as he is in terms of not forsaking or abandoning one another. It’s called faithfulness, and it’s called love, and it is also called commitment. God could not possibly be more committed to our well being than to give up his only begotten Son for our ransom and redemption. His total and absolute faithfulness, love, and commitment to us is forever settled and demonstrated by that one act alone, not as though he hasn’t demonstrated it throughout history in every other conceivable way. So what it comes down to is that if we’re going to be real with God then we need to ante up and act toward one another like he has acted toward us. The apostle Paul told us some powerful things about the nature of God’s love, one of which was, “[Love] suffereth long, and is kind” (I Cor. 13:4). Longsuffering is one of the most revealing attributes of God’s nature, and if it wasn’t for his longsuffering and patience it would have all been over for all of us a long time ago. It’s God’s longsuffering that is responsible for the promise that he will never leave or forsake us. It’s really simple; he doesn’t give up on us because we’re going through a hard time, or we’re struggling with a repeated failure. As long as we’re wanting to get things righted and continue to strive to follow him, he is going to be there for us and help us through till we get where we need to go. In fact even if we utterly fail and go back to sin he will eagerly wait for us to return, and he will also seek us out and try to turn us back in the right direction. Remember the parable of the lost sheep? Yeah, that’s the nature of God and that is the heart of our Savior who died for us. The problem with a whole lot of folks is that they make ‘fair weather friends’ out of themselves, and I’m talking about people who are in Christ. So many want to get what is beneficial to themselves out of their relationships with others, and then move on when someone is struggling. That is not the love of God, and that is a shameful trait, especially for someone professing faith in Jesus Christ.

Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying; I’m fully aware that there’s a time to leave someone to themselves when they have waxed defiant and refuse to listen to reason or respond to righteous efforts to give them the help that they need. But we can pull the trigger too fast on that as well, especially if we’re lacking in longsuffering, patience, and commitment. Those with a heart after God will stay the course with someone who is genuinely trying to do the right things and be the right way, even if they are failing often. Jesus certainly does that. It is the wicked that are characterized throughout the scriptures as forsaking the righteous. Demas after several years of ministering with Paul forsook him when Paul was in prison. Paul minced no words about the reason for it either: “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world” (II Tim. 4:10). Judas forsook Jesus after being with him in the ministry for three years, and betrayed him to the chief priests and Pharisees. David’s trusted counselor Ahithophel forsook him when things got rough for David, and his son Absalom momentarily took over the kingdom (II Sam. 15:31). The list just goes on, but the fact is that there is no righteous person in the Bible who ever forsook or abandoned another righteous person when the going got tough, or when the grass may have looked a little greener on the other side. So in the end if God has said that he would never leave or forsake us, then we should have the same mindset and heart about one another. We are very speedily approaching the time that Jesus spoke of in his great end time sermon, and it is this particular attribute that will make the difference between those who will be saved and those who will be lost, as he soberly stated: “And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another… And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Mat. 24:10,12,13). So if we are the righteous, and the elect, and all of that good stuff; then we truly must be our brother’s keeper. All I can say my friend, is dig deep in that well of living water, and keep on drinking. Nuff said.