After welcoming our first child recently, I feel a new calling to be a “keeper”—to keep watch over my son, keep his environment safe, keep him changed and fed, keep up with laundry, keep away significant threats to his fledgling immunity, keep an account of his milestones, keep his medical appointments, keep in touch with friends and family who love him, keep track of his growth and daily sleep, and keep our various supplies stocked—all in efforts to be a good and faithful keeper of him. The more I explore this word through Scripture, the more convinced I am that being a keeper is a good and holy calling meant to glorify the good and holy keeper of us.
Prior to this season, if you’d asked me where the word “keeper” shows up in Scripture, I could have only told you the story of Cain and Abel, which is one of the first appearances of “keeper” in the Bible. Abel, whose sacrifice God accepted, is described as a keeper of sheep. Later, when Cain is confronted for murdering his brother, he seems scornful of the role, asking, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen. 4:1–9).
But “keeper” shows up throughout Scripture, often used to describe one who guards with fidelity, defensively preserves, protects from dangers, watches over, and attends to with care. Given its significance and repetition, it would seem being a keeper is a more honorable call in God’s eyes than Cain may have thought, especially as it reflects the first keeper, God himself. We’re called to be keepers of our hearts, his commands, our work, and those in our care, even as we rest in the good providence of him who is keeper over us.
Keepers of Our Hearts
Solomon, in his wisdom, told his readers to be keepers of their hearts, because from the heart flow springs of life (Prov. 4:23). He even said to do this with all vigilance, or “above all else.”
We keep our hearts by taking thoughts captive (2 Cor. 10:5), by resisting temptations (even of what we watch, read, and begin to believe), by dwelling on what’s true and good, by overthrowing idols, by pursuing righteousness in thought and deed, by supplanting resentment with forgiveness, and by nurturing the seeds of God’s Word to see them take deep root rather than be snatched away by the Enemy.
Perhaps we keep our hearts best by keeping them in God’s all-satisfying, everlasting love (Jude 1:21), delighting ourselves in him as he nurtures us through his goodness, beauty, and truth. By keeping our hearts, we’re keeping the springs of life it produces for our flourishing, for the good of others, and for God’s glory.
Keepers of His Commands
As we keep our hearts’ desires rightly ordered, our obedient words and actions follow. Being keepers of God’s commands is proof we know and love him (John 14:15; 1 John 2:3). Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, Scripture implores us to treasure and cling to his commandments. We ought to be good servants who can be trusted to uphold his Word in faithfulness.
We’re to keep God’s commands on our minds, in our hearts, and between our eyes—meditating on them from sunrise to sunset. We must be doers as well as hearers, intentionally and consistently weaving God’s commands into our daily lives (James 1:22). This is how we learn to speak life rather than death, order our schedules according to his priorities, and aim our resources at serving God’s kingdom rather than our own.
God’s commands are to be kept on our minds, in our hearts, and between our eyes—meditating on them from sunrise to sunset.
These small decisions compose our hours, days, and years as we run with perseverance the race of keeping Jesus’s works to the end (Rev. 2:26), holding tightly to them against all persuasions from the Enemy to set aside God‘s commandments and follow our flesh instead.
We’re told to be keepers of his commandments and live (Prov. 4:4) because his Word brings life. And the giver of commands is glorified (while others are blessed) as we keep them in obedience to him.
Keepers of Our Work
We’re called to be keepers of our work (Gen. 2:15), diligently keeping the “garden” of whatever tasks and roles God assigns us like he first did to Adam in Eden.
We are called to be keepers of our work (Gen. 2:15), diligently keeping the ‘garden’ of whatever tasks and roles God has assigned to us.
That may be housekeeping: guarding, nurturing, and building a home of life-giving refuge for those who dwell in it and will be welcomed into it. I cherish this calling daily as I seek to keep my vows to my husband, keep watch over my son, and keep up with household chores.
Outside the home, it may be our corporate job, ministerial vocation, hired caregiving, or manual labor that calls us to the faithful keeping of a budget, a timeline, a project, a patient, a classroom, a land, or a study. Each of these endeavors can be a living testimony of divine love and keeping for the people we serve, as we seek the welfare of the place God has sent us.
Keepers of Others
In regard to others, we answer Cain’s question with a resounding, compassionate, and sobering yes. We’re called to be our brothers’ keepers, willing to snatch them out of the fire and protect them against the Enemy’s aims to steal, kill, and destroy.
Do we care so deeply for our brothers’ and sisters’ souls that we long to defend one another from the Enemy’s lies, confront one another over sins for the sake of humble accountability, and contend for one another’s highest good as defined by God’s Word?
Pastors are called to be keepers of their flocks (Acts 20:28): shepherds who look after, provide for, courageously defend, and lay down their lives for those entrusted to their care. As Jesus reminded Peter in one of their final conversations, by feeding and tending to the sheep, Peter would prove his love for Jesus—the good shepherd himself (John 21:17).
We can do the same in all our keeping work too. Whether in our family, church, ministry, office, hospital, or classroom, we demonstrate our love for Jesus by taking seriously the stewardship of keeping our people with devoted provision and mercy.
Our Keeper
Ultimately, all holy keeping, even the keeping of my newborn son, is a reflection of God who is our keeper (Ps. 121:5).
Our keeping abilities are limited. We cannot even keep ourselves alive (22:29), but he who keeps us will not slumber (121:3). He keeps watch over our souls (Prov. 24:12) and keeps us from the Evil One (John 17:15). He keeps us from stumbling (Jude 24), keeps our feet from being caught (Prov. 3:26), and can keep us from sinning (Gen. 20:6). He keeps our going out and coming in forever (Ps. 121:8) and he’ll keep us firm to the end (1 Cor. 1:8) as we’re kept for Jesus Christ (Jude 1:1).
He is our faithful keeper. We’re kept for him. And as we look to him in faith, we’re conformed to the likeness of him who calls us to be keepers in return.
The Gospel Coalition