I Am My Brother’s Keeper

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10 NIV)

I have a love/hate relationship with this verse. I love the promise it makes and the loving intent of a Savior who would generously offer so much. I hate my intermittent inability to believe it.

A scarcity mindset has dogged me all my life. Maybe it’s a residual effect of being the last of seven children—the one who always had to wear the hand-me-down clothing and ride the secondhand bicycle. Maybe it’s the Enneagram 5 in me speaking up. Or maybe it’s older still—as old as the second generation out of Eden.

“When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected . . . One day Cain suggested to his brother, ‘Let’s go out into the fields.’ And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.

Afterward the Lord asked Cain, ‘Where is your brother? Where is Abel?’

‘I don’t know,’ Cain responded. ‘Am I my brother’s guardian?’” (Gen. 4:3-9 NLT).

The Scripture doesn’t tell us why Cain’s offering didn’t meet God’s standards. We only know that God gave him a chance to make it right—and he chose to make it very wrong instead. Cain watched his brother get the affirmation he wanted. Then he believed the lie that he had to compete with his brother.

God didn’t set us up for competition. He asked the first people to bless and forge community with one another. The word for guardian, shawmar, means to guard, to protect, even to save life. It’s a term of responsibility—the same one God gave Cain’s parents earlier in Genesis 2:15—“The Lord God placed humans in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over (shawmar) it.”

So when Cain asks if he’s his brother’s guardian, the answer is yes. Yes, it is your job to guard your brother. You’ve been commissioned to protect, care for, and nurture his life.

Cain chose to believe that there would not be enough of God’s blessing for both him and Abel, and the battle against scarcity began. We feel its repercussions.

Some examples:

• Mothers who argue over whose methods are best. We feel there are only so many “good parent” awards to go around, and we must prove ourselves more deserving.
• Coworkers who behave as friends until the next promotion opportunity. Competition fuels the lie that “success” has only one definition, and only a limited number of people achieve it.
• Teens who compare their social lives with what they see on social media. There are only so many slots in the “friends and fun” category, and they’re sure they haven’t got one.
• People who drop a rumor or two about you so they can feel (or appear) more spiritual. We assume God has a limited amount of goodwill and love toward his people, and we need to prove ourselves worthy of it.
• People who hoard hand sanitizer and toilet paper so there’s not enough to go around.

Cain taught us all that there’s only so much “Way to go!” to go around, and we must have our share. Cain taught us all that someone has to be better—there isn’t any room for both their life and mine to be satisfying. Cain taught us that if someone else gets ahead, we’re automatically behind.

Maybe the actual mark of Cain was a symbol on his forehead, but I think the real mark of Cain can be found in all of us when we’re certain we need to compete with our sisters or brothers rather than care for them.

[Tweet “The real mark of Cain can be found in all of us when we’re certain we need to compete with our sisters or brothers rather than care for them.”]

What if we chose to believe that abundant life thing instead?

Right now, I can choose the peace of knowing God has abundance in mind for me. Not abundance in the sense of a prosperity gospel, but abundance in the reality that, on God’s scale, we are always enough for our task or circumstances. I can choose to use that peace to compliment a brother or sister rather than take them down. I can use it to encourage and build them up, knowing it doesn’t lessen my worth or opportunities one bit.

I am my sister and brother’s keeper.

Scripture for Reflection

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 2:3-5 NIV)

“I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” (Eccl. 4:4 NIV)

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. How much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matt. 7:7-8, 11)

Reach for More

Choose at least three people this week to compliment, praise to someone else, encourage, or tangibly support. Then go do it! How did it make you feel?

Jill Richardson is a writer, speaker, pastor, mom of three, and author of five books. She likes to travel, grow flowers, read Tolkien, and research her next project. She believes in Jesus, grace, restoration, kindness, justice, and dark chocolate. Her passion is partnering with the next generation of faith. Jill blogs at jillmrichardson.com.

Photograph © Herbert Grambihler, used with permission