Why was Dylann Roof’s murder of nine people in a Charleston church building six years ago so evil? Was it solely because the murders were pre-meditated? No. Was it solely because the victims were in church? No. Was it solely because he was motivated by hate? No. Was it solely because his skin was white and their skin was black? No. All of those factors were examined in great detail in the police investigation, and certainly contributed to it being evil, but those aren’t the real reasons the murders were so evil. They were evil because he killed nine precious souls made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26).

It would be inaccurate to say that our society has become so callused by violence in the entertainment media that it takes an extraordinary event like mass murders by evil racists to stir our emotions. It’s inaccurate because we’re human beings and every culture, including ours, has willingly turned a blind eye to abuse and murder when it suits its purposes. Murder has always been evil, whatever the motive, and humanity’s sordid past, including America’s, is saturated with the blood of innocents. It’s just harder to ignore when splashed all over the news media.

Murder is evil, even when committed by a king who once had been described as a man “after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). As we saw previously, David’s plan to cover his adulterous affair with Bathsheba didn’t work, so, instead of confessing to the crime, he took the evil way out – murder. He sent Uriah back to the battle carrying his own death warrant; instructions to Joab to make sure Uriah died in battle. The text is almost clinical in its coldness. “So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men. The men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David’s servants fell; and Uriah the Hittite also died.” (2 Samuel 11:16-17).

David didn’t pull the trigger or stand over the body shouting hate speech like Dylann Roof, but he was a murderer just the same. Uriah’s life mattered to God, just like the lives of those nine precious people who died on June 17, 2015. And your life matters too. Enough that Jesus died to rescue you from sin. Will you let Him save your life today?