Brother (And Sister) Hood

We all have best friends. “Besties”, “BBFs”, etc. These people are fun to be around! You joke around, call each others’ parents ‘mom’ and ‘dad’, and you practically live with each other on weekends. These relationships are all over the place, but while you have a best friend, do you have a brother or sister?

I have found there to be many types of brothers

(Printer Company)

But I'm not talking about those types of brothers. I’m also not talking about the younger/older children that live in your house, steal from your room, and eat your fruit roll-ups.

No, I’m talking about your spiritual brothers and sisters. These spiritual siblings help you through rough patches; catch you when you are doing things wrong, and most importantly, help you grow closer to God. Your best friend doesn't have to be your spiritual sister and your spiritual sister doesn't necessarily have to be your best friend, but most of the time they end up taking that role.

Think about it really hard for a second. Search through every person you know. Now take your deepest, darkest secret. Out of all the people you thought of, who would you tell that secret to? More than likely, these people are your brothers and sisters.

Your brothers will be guys and your sisters will be girls. This has to be established (thanks to the hit song by Avril Levigne). Most of the time, you can go to your sisters for advice and your brothers for support (of course there are exceptions, this part isn't exactly a rule, it really depends on the person.) But guys lean on your brothers and girls lean on your sisters. It’s good for a girl to have brothers, but she should also have sisters to lean on. The same goes for guys. There are just some things that you can’t tell the opposite gender.

Above all, these people should bring you closer to Christ. If you find that your friend is constantly dragging you into bad situations, then they are not your brother or your sister. Your brothers and sisters should do the opposite, actually. They should notice when you are about to make a poor decision and then quickly pull you out of it. It may hurt them to tell you when you’re doing something wrong and it may make you mad when they point it out, but trust me. They’re doing it for your own good.

"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." Proverbs 17:17

I had an instance yesterday that got me thinking about brothers and sisters. It wasn't even that complicated of a situation. All I did was leave my trash on the table, but my friend said, “Dude, come on. Pick it up”. Of course, I did, but it was a little weird to me that he pointed it out. But then I realized that I wasn't thinking about the people who would have to clean up my garbage because I was being inconsiderate, and that simple sentence whipped me into shape for the rest of the day.

If you have a serious problem at 3 in the morning, there should be at least one person in your life that you can pick up the phone and call without them getting mad. That constant listening ear or comforting personality. Or maybe even that harsh word you need to hear to straighten up your life. God created us as social creatures. Christianity is a contact sport! You can’t be a Christian and be alone, it just doesn't work! No one can be godly by themself; everyone slips up once in a while. That’s why we need someone there to catch us.

"For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—and a threefold cord is not quickly broken" Ecclesiastes 4:10-12

Also, just a quick thing to add. I've heard of a few of my friends getting in pairs for a challenge that goes great with this topic. You find another person very close to you in your life and you challenge each other. Every week you come up with a different challenge for that person, like “smile all day” “say three good things about yourself every time you see me” stuff like that. This is a great way to form a bond with someone while simultaneously becoming a better person. I've seen it in action and it seriously works.

God Bless!

Patrick