Exodus 20:13, “You
shall not murder.”
We live in a day and age where we not
only hear but know the truth of the saying, “Life is cheap.” On too many
occasions men, women and even children have had their lives taken from them for
the poorest and most selfish of reasons. Therefore it is not difficult for us
to see the necessity of this fifth commandment.
Why did God give this commandment?
We shall look at four reasons:
God is the creator and sovereign ruler
over all things, including life, therefore God alone is the giver and taker of
life. This teaches us, firstly, that because God is the creator and giver of
life, and because God is holy and perfect, life, human life was created as holy
and perfect. Therefore, we are to regard human life as sacred, precious,
God-given and should never be viewed as anything less than this. Secondly,
because our lives are given to us by God and are ruled over by God, we do not
have the right to take the life of another, in and of our own accord. Scripture
makes this clear to us on a number of occasions, it is God that both gives and
takes life, it is His sovereign right to do so. To take the life of another for
our own selfish reasons is to elevate ourselves to the position of God, and to
regard their lives as being of lesser worth than our own.
Men and women are created in the image of
God. How is this linked to the fifth commandment? It means that if we seek to
harm, or even murder another person, we are attacking, coming against and
seeking to destroy that which is created in the image of God. Thus murder is
not just an assault on the person, it is also an assault on God who created
them in His image and gave them life.
Life is precious, sacred and is to be
upheld, promoted, protected and enjoyed. God created us to live, and to enjoy
life in His presence, under His rule. Sin impacted greatly upon this, but it
did not change the manner in which we are to view or regard life. Clear
evidence of this is seen in some of the laws that the people of Israel were
given, in regards to how they were to build their houses, manage their
livestock and manage their property. Laws were also given in regards to how
they should exercise self-control and restraint in the midst of an angry conflict,
so as to not cause physical harm. All these laws are given so as to ensure that
the people of Israel understood how precious life was and therefore sought to
protect, uphold and preserve it to the best of their ability.
In many respects it is straight-forward
to see how this commandment is one of life and love. As has already been stated
life is precious to God and He wants it to be equally precious to us. God
created us to live and therefore we should do all that we can to uphold,
preserve and protect life. We should teach others about the sacredness of life
in God’s sight and remind them of the unique privilege we enjoy because we are
created in God’s image. God loves life, He wants us to love life, He wants us
to love the lives of others and He wants us to love living with Him, in His
kingdom. This is all part of the reason as to why Christ came and in a stunning
act of grace sacrificed His life, so that we might receive eternal life through
faith in Him.
Father of Life, we thank You for the wonderful privilege of being
created in Your image. We confess that we don’t really understand what it means
and how great a privilege it is to be created in Your image. Help us to
understand and appreciate this more and more. We pray that You will also help
us to realise just how sacred and precious life is to You, so that we might
seek to uphold and protect better than what we already do. Teach us to
appreciate the lives of others, realising that they too are created in Your
image and are therefore equally precious to You. Amen
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