Now 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 killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground (Genesis 4:8–10).
This is one of the saddest and most horrendous stories in the Bible. It details a conversation between two brothers, which ended in the death of the younger one, Abel, a righteous man. From this narrative, we know that Cain did not deal with the warning that God had given him concerning sin and its crouching at the door of his heart. It is almost unbelievable that many of us also do not heed the warning God gives about the same nature lurking about seeking to find entrance into our heart. We often dismiss His warnings because we have a natural inclination toward something that is self-serving or pleasing to our old nature. At times, it seems, we trust our natural inclinations more than God. Cain did not listen to God, therefore, he got into much trouble, killing his own brother! We must learn from this deadly experience and never repeat Cain’s error in our lives. However, we can repeat it by allowing hatred in our hearts. Hatred is murder! And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We must always be vigilant and on guard!
It is my view that we are living in a time period where sin is rampant and always crouching about our door. We must not allow it to rule over us; Cain did nothing about the sin that was crouching at the door of his heart. He made no attempt to turn toward God, therefore, it entered his heart in the same manner that satan entered Judas’s heart causing him to betray the Lord. We must be careful not to ever compromise with sin. Even when God confronted Cain, asking him, “Where is Abel your brother,” he lied saying, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). Let us not lie to ourselves.
Cain’s words are not dead; they are still in the thoughts of many. After studying and worshiping God sometimes for years, some still do not understand nor see that we are our brother’s keeper, the hedge about him to guard and protect him, to attend to him. Our brother is also our neighbor! We are to love him as we love ourselves. God’s word says, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16). How do we lay down our lives for our brothers? We do so by loving them unconditionally. Our life is no longer our own. Scripture says, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Each of us must daily take positions in favor of our brother, sometimes totally denying ourselves. How do we know we have been changed? How do we know we are truly a new creation, a new humanity? “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death” (1 John 3:14). If we do not love our brother sincerely from the heart, we have not been changed; we are still our old self! One characteristic of the “new man” is that he loves God and his neighbor also. “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also” (1 John 4:20-21). Loving our brother might be a challenge for some of us; it should not be, but if it is, let us face it knowing that God has commanded this love, therefore, He has provided it beforehand! Let us from this moment take up the mantle of love and resolve not to be as Cain who did nothing to allow change to come to his heart. We often look to the world to make changes that it is impotent, helpless to make. We are the Lord’s instruments of change through the in-dwelling Christ! The world is in chaos. Therefore, let us take up the Cross of Jesus Christ as never before, not the world’s solutions, but our Heavenly Father’s solution—Jesus Christ, Himself. Let us resolve to be truly our brother’s keeper, thereby, changing the world.
Loving My Brothers,
Pastor Don