Your Responsibility

The first question human beings ask is about responsibility

‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ (v.9b). This is the crucial question for today. Do you have responsibility for others?

The result of the fall is a broken relationship with God. Adam and Eve blamed each other (v.11–12), and in chapter four we read that their children also fell out with each other. Arguments, quarrelling and falling out with one another began here. It has blighted the human race ever since. Try to avoid arguments. You will rarely win one and they are so destructive.

Cain was angry with his brother Abel. God’s questioning continued: ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it’ (4:6–7).

You will either master sin (now through the power of the cross and resurrection and with the help of the Spirit), or else sin will master you. In Cain’s case, it did. He killed his brother (v.8). God asked him yet another question: ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ (v.9a).

In response, Cain asked the first question by a human being in the Bible: ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ (v.9b). Cain wanted to avoid responsibility. He was saying, ‘Do I really have responsibility for anyone other than myself?’

The biblical answer is that you do have responsibility for others. We cannot exempt ourselves from responsibility for what is happening around us – in our city, nation and the world. For example, we cannot accept that thousands of children die every day as a result of extreme poverty and simply say, ‘It’s not our responsibility.’

Not only do you have responsibility towards your fellow human beings, but it is your privilege to bring blessing and joy to your friends, family and all those around you, and to make a difference in the lives of as many people as possible.