Am I my brother’s keeper??

Genesis 4:1-10

               Perhaps one of the most thought-provoking questions in the Bible is that one asked by Cain; he asked God, Am I my brothers’ keeper?  This is an amazing question and also and irresponsible question. Asking this kind of a question depicts of how we really don’t care of what other are going through or facing. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-38 that we ought to love each other as we love ourselves. But how many of us do? We are so jealous of our brethren and rather than showing them love, we plant hatred and discord amongst ourselves.

              Cain and Abel go into the fields and as they offered their sacrifices to God, God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and he rejected the sacrifice of Cain and thus leading to the death of Abel. As a matter of fact, the sacrifice that Cain had brought before God wasn’t worth and thus rather than him asking God what was wrong with his sacrifice and rectifying, he was full of rage and this ended up with him killing his brother and thus bringing up a curse over his life.

              Today, many of us are just like Cain. We may not kill like Cain did but in our small acts to our friends, neighbours and other people, we are slowly becoming like Cain and we have on the long run acquired or placed a curse upon our lives. Jealousy and Hatred are the root causes of all curses that we may experience in our lives. We may do it knowingly or unknowingly but as I said earlier, the little actions and comments that we make in regards to what happens to our brothers mean a lot. Many times, our irresponsibility towards the people that God has placed in our lives to care for culminates to irresponsibility of our own lives. If Cain was responsible for his own life and remembered to have his ways before the Lord, he wouldn’t have ended up killing his brother; but because he had neglected his relationship with God, thus his relationship with his own brother did not matter.

                I know the question you will ask then is; do we really have a responsibility to watch out and care for one another? Looking at the New Testament, we have very many instances where we are urged to be our brothers’ keeper. Look at this; we have the following responsibilities..:

We are to “love one another”…

1.        As commanded by Jesus – “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35; John 15:12, 17

2.        As taught by Paul – “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8) “Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other”. (1Thesalonians 4:9).

3.        As instructed by Peter – “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart” 1Peter 1:22

4.        As stressed by John – “This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.” 1 John 3:11-12 (note v.12), 23; 4:7,11-12; 2 John 5

Love has been emphasized that it is the only best way that we can express our care and concern for others. How are we then supposed to express such love? 

1)       Receive one another – Romans  15:7

2)       Edify another – Romans 14:19

3)       Serve one another – Galatians 5:13

4)       Bear one another’s burdens – Galatians 6:1-2

5)       Forgiving one another – Ephesians 4:32

6)       Submitting to one another – Ephesians 5:21

7)       Exhort one another – Hebrews 3:12-13

8)       Consider one another – Hebrews 10:24-25

9)       Be hospitable to one another – 1Peter 4:8-10

        In light of such “one another“ passages, is there any doubt that we are to be our brother’s keeper? But how well are we doing?  It’s my prayer that God will help both you and me to arise and get back to the position from whereof we have fallen and be our brothers’ keeper.

Amen!!!

_{Wednesday, 1st July 2009}