It's Our Fault

by Joanne Lowe
Published March 4, 2008

(Written on January 11, 2008)

“And in the process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And 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 slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.”

Genesis 4: 3 – 12
King James Version

We have had a terrible tragedy close to where I live. You might have read about it or heard about it. A dad threw his four children off of a high bridge and the officials said that all of the children are believed to be dead. When we read something heartbreaking and tragic like this about children in the newspaper or hear about it on the television and the radio, if you are like me, our reactions are shock, disbelief and anger.

As I listened to several live interviews on television yesterday with different people discussing the tragedy, God spoke to my heart and said that we are just as guilty of killing those children as if we had been the ones to throw those precious children off of the bridge. He reminded me that we are our brother’s keeper and it is our fault that children are killed and that it is also our fault that those precious little children are dead. I was convicted and my anger quickly turned to guilt and sorrow. I asked God to forgive me for hurting and injuring my nephews emotionally when they were little. I got very nauseous as I always do when I get upset and my heart ached as if it had been my own child who had been thrown off of that high bridge to her death.

I didn’t know those children personally but any Christian who ever had any contact in any way with any of the children or with their parents had the opportunity to tell them that Jesus loves them. Many times we are guilty of not telling people that we meet that Jesus loves them. Sometimes we ask them where they go to church and if they are saved, but often we do not tell them that Jesus loves them. I am just as guilty of this as you are. May God forgive us for neglecting to tell everyone that we meet how much Jesus loves them.

We have been given a mandate from our Heavenly Father. He has told us that we are to love our children and that we are to protect our children. We are to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6: 4). We, as parents, are not to just tell our children how to live a godly life; we are to set the example for them.

I can remember many times when I was a child at home that my Mother would say to me “Don’t do as I do; do what I say.” That is exactly the opposite of what Jesus tells us. We, as parents, are to live such joyful, exciting, happy and peaceful lives before our children that they will see the difference that Jesus can make in a heart and life that has surrendered to Him and they will want Jesus in their hearts and lives too.

One thing that is vitally important for us, as parents, to do is to tell our children when we have to punish them that we still love them no matter what they have done. Isn’t that what our Heavenly Father does for us? When we go to Him and ask Him to forgive us for failing Him and for hurting Him, we can trust Him to not only forgive us, but to reassure us that He still loves us and that there is nothing that we can do to make Him stop loving us. He proved His amazing unconditional love for us when He sent His only beloved Son into the world to be crucified for our sins so that we can live with Him for all eternity. There is no greater love than the love of our dear Heavenly Father and our precious Saviour! No one loves us like they love us.

Indeed we are our brother’s keeper and one day every parent will stand before a Holy God and give an account of the way we treated our children. That doesn’t mean that just because we, as parents, make mistakes and lose our temper with our children that God will never forgive us. He knows that parents are just human. However, I believe that He expects every parent who claims to be born again through the cleansing blood of Jesus to be kinder to their children and more understanding of their children than they did before they were saved. Do you love your children as God has commanded you to love them and do you treat them as He has told us to treat them?

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