closer than a brother

I'm not alright

I have this conversation 50 times a day.
"How you doing?"
"Good, good, and you?"
"Doing good"
The answers never change. Despite the different people, situations, struggles. Everyone is always doing good, great, perfect...Because that's what we want to hear, it's what we expect to hear, and socially, what is acceptable to say.
Sometimes, often, it's a lie. An open, flat out, bold faced lie.
Sometimes, often, I'm not alright. Sometimes I'm hurting, down, questioning. Sometimes I need someone to call me on it. Sometimes I need someone to say, "Really? Are you really doing good?"
I am proud to tears to know that I have friends closer than a brother (two of who are my brothers) who are willing to hear the truth, and to ask for the truth. (Proverbs 18:24) They are my Jonathan's, my Eli's, my Barnabas's. They are willing to jump in the furnace with me.
Am I that kind of friend? Am I a friend, brother, to call out the truth, and to be there for my brothers? Are you being that friend?
Romans 12:10 calls us to "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love."
Devotion to fellow citizens of the Kingdom, what joy in obedience!
Be that brother today. Be willing to hear and hold your brother. Be willing to let your brother know if you're not alright. Because sometimes, often, we're not. That's where we can show ourselves as being closer than an earthly brother.