No, this isn’t a hommage to Nino Brown and the CMB crew. (That’s for my ’90’s saints.) This is about God’s mandate to take care of each other. To look out for each other’s wellbeing. Believers and non-believers alike.

Romans 14:19 (NIV) states: Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. (Romans 14:19 NIV) As believers, we should be striving to live a life of peace and love. 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 (KJV) states: And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing. 

One way to start living this life of peace is by showing agape type love to all those we interact with. Brotherly love. My son’s friend lives with us and one day he was gone all day. So, I asked my son where he was. He told me he didn’t know and why didn’t I text him. Although he had a point, the larger point was they should be closer and in more communication. I looked at him and said, “I thought you would know before I would.” My son then asks me why. I was shocked. Their rooms are literally right. Next to. Each. Other. I thought I raised him better. The situation reminded me of the sass Cain gave to God.

I explained that he should be his brother’s keeper and went on a tirade about how more and more often, people are not their brother’s keeper. My son rolled his eyes as if to say, “Ugh! Bible stuff again.” In a word, it’s selfish.

As believers we should set the example of a genuine sense of goodwill toward our fellow man and not expecting anything in return. That last part is important because I’ve heard so many times through the years, “Why should I care about what happens to them? What’s in it for me?” Whether they care for you or not isn’t the point. It’s a mandate from God!

Do you dislike someone so much that you would sit back with popcorn and watch them go the wrong way knowingly? Sadly, some of you had someone come to mind and said an emphatic yes! Pray and ask God to deliver you.

I was that person. There were some people that when they did me wrong, I’d lie in wait for their eventual demise. You can see it coming and just sit back, watch the calamity and then go tell the story for a laugh.

From the old testament to the new, there are verses in just about every book about loving our fellow man. So, the next time you see a friend or family member going to the left, don’t just sit back, grab popcorn and watch the fireworks. Say something. Tempered in love. One of the worst things you can do is nothing at all. Stop the Snapchat the person running down the aisle after the fallen can of peas for entertainment.

Kindness is contagious. You might be the only kindness they see all day and could be the subject of someone else’s one happy moment that day. You never know who you touch when you are simply kind to someone. Meditate on this:

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.  Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (KJV)

Understand, you can only be two when you are your brother’s keeper. ~ Selah

* New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.