I had a new believer tell me recently that Christians are really friendly at church. My friend said that they’ll tell you “Hi, so good to see you, I’ll pray for you this week.” But then they say, “See you Sunday,” and you get to endure your week all by yourself.

Unfortunately, I had to agree that too many of us do that exact thing. It’s sad, though, because we ARE our brother’s keeper. I am my brother’s keeper. And if you are a  Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, so are you.

But when was the last time we really took care of our brothers and sisters in Christ?

• When was the last time we sat across the table over lunch, and just listened as our brothers and sisters poured out their hearts about whatever’s going on in their lives?
• When was the last time we invited another family or couple over for our family movie night?
• When was the last time we asked someone to lunch?
• When was the last time we organized a potluck, a game of kickball, or a trip to the zoo with other believers?

We sit back and enjoy our lives. We are glad to have friends when we need them. But way too often, we let everyone else do the reaching out, and assume that they are actually reaching out. We take and take and take, but rarely give. We rarely give of our time or our conversation. We rarely include others in our fun. We stick to ourselves and our own family circles.

But there are people out there who have no one.

There are people out there who are starving for godly companionship.

There are people out there whom you think don’t need you, but who would actually give an arm and a leg to have you reach out and spend time with them.

“Why don’t they ask?” you say. Well, they don’t ask because they refuse to be so petty as to hold it against you that you don’t make an effort to spend time with them. But they are lonely anyway. They are islands, and they don’t know how to reach the shore.

When will we start reaching out?

When will we develop give-and-take relationships where we take care of one another, instead of letting everybody just take care of us?

When will we truly love our brothers? When will we get life-on-life with the people that we claim to be family with?

We ARE our brother’s keeper. {Click here to tweet this!}

I am my brother’s keeper, and you are your brother’s keeper.

How are you doing at this work of keeping?

If you’re doing a terrific job, I’m proud of you. But if you’re not doing so great, how can you change that?

• Can you invite another couple out to lunch, dinner, or a movie?
• Can you invite another family to go the park with you?
• Can you invite people to your home for a meal together–just because?

We’ve got to get better at this, Church. We’ve got to start loving people:

• We’ve got to spend time with them because we love them, not because they can do anything for us.
• We’ve got to take care of one another.
• We’ve got to get back to the work of keeping one another; of getting life-on-life with the people we love.
• We’ve got to reclaim hospitality, even if the kitchen’s not clean, the floor isn’t vacuumed, and the food isn’t perfect.

I am my brother’s keeper, and so are you.

Who can you help keep today?

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This post is linked up at JuanaMikels.com.