Thursday; June 20
One of the most famous stories in the Bible is the conflict between Cain and Abel. We’ll maybe a better way to put it is the conflict between Cain and God. The struggle between the two brothers was pretty straight-forward; but the one between Cain and God was a bit more protracted. After being warned by God about his attitude toward Able (and the Lord), Cain killed Abel. When this happened, God confronted Cain in this infamous exchange, “Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is Abel your brother?’ And he said, ‘I do not know. Am I my brothers keeper?’” (Genesis 4:10). In addition to lying to God about his guilt, he also dismissed the humanity he should have displayed to his brother. What followed was God’s punishment and another line in the legacy of mankind. Most of us are familiar with this encounter, but there are times I am a bit haunted by Cain’s question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”. I guess my struggle with the issue is “How much of my brother’s keeper should I be?”. I thi