You shall not murder.

Good morning! Here is today’s word of blessings for you.
Exodus 20:13

“You shall not murder.
Today’s title is “The Sixth Commandment”

Love is the most crucial underlying theme of the ten commandments as we have seen so far. But there is another great underlying theme that seems as much crucial if not more in the ten commandments I believe. That is “life”. It seems to me that God emphasizes that He is a living God as opposed to all the other gods that are lifeless. He seems to say and reiterate it again and again. In view of life, it seems to me that God says through the first to fourth commandments, “I am the only God because only I have the life. You and I should have a vital and living relationship not like the relationship with lifeless idols. Don’t treat me as if I don’t care how genuinely you love and honor me. Rejoice and rest with me for eternity”. Such a strong emphasis on life continues through all the rest of the commandments. God gave us life. With life, God wants us to enjoy and glorify Him and all that He has created. Life is the very basis of God’s design for our existence. God wants us not to lose our own life and not to take the life of others. But the devil has totally different view of life. It wants to disrupt God’s design and destroy our life as much as possible. We see such contrasting views of life in the words of the Lord. “ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10). So it is no wonder that God commanded us not to murder. Furthermore, “You shall not murder” not only means prohibition of killing but also command to preserve and promote life. The command also prohibits people from denying or damaging the decency and dignity of other people’s life. The Lord shows it clearly when He said, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matthew 5:22-23)”. Through the sixth commandment, we see how precious our life is and how adamantly God cares for it. We are indeed nothing unless He gave us life and restored our life when we lost it by paying the ultimate price with the life of His only Son. So we are compelled to protect, preserve, and promote the lives of people around us not because we are so loving but because we know how greatly we are indebted to His love. Since we have received precious life , may we all enjoy the life that God has given and restored, and do protect and promote the life of the people around us. Amen!