“You shall not murder.” – Exodus 20:13
Q: What is the sixth commandment?
A: You shall not murder.
What does this mean?
Because we worship and love God, we shouldn’t hurt or harm other people, but instead we should help them like a friend would.
Sadly, murder happens all the time in our world. It creates a horrible sense of loss for people who love the person who is murdered and usually the person who commits a murder either lives in fear of being caught or is caught and lives the rest of their lives in prison.
People who murder usually are people who are deeply hurting. There is something that they want that they can’t have and they will do anything to get it, even murder. Some people love drugs. It’s what they want. If they have to murder to get drugs, they will. Some people love power. It’s what they want. If they have to murder to gain or maintain power, they will. Some people want respect. They demand it. If they can’t get that respect they will murder those who they feel deeply disrespected by.
You shouldn’t live in fear. Not everyone knows someone personally who has been murdered, but it does happen in our world today. And it happens because we don’t trust God. If we want something, God wants us to ask him and not try to control our own lives to the point that we feel like we have to do whatever it takes to get what we want. God will provide. Do you believe that? If you really believe that, then all the things that we really need will be ours if we ask. We don’t have to murder to get what we want.
Read James 4:1-3:
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
What causes fights and quarrels among us?
- Are there desires in your life that feel a bit out of control because you are not getting what you think you want, need, or demand?
- How could asking God to provide shape how you feel about those things you want?
- Most people don’t feel the desire to murder to get what we want, but we may be tempted to sin against people in other ways if they stand in the way of our wants, needs, or demands. How do we need to repent of this in our lives? What do you want? (Maybe your boss at work is disrespectful of you, so you gossip about him/her. Maybe you don’t have enough money right now so you are tempted to be impatient with you kids because of stress, etc.)
Prayer
Our Father, may our wants be your wants. Help us align our desires to you so that we trust you and not ourselves. We want to love our neighbor as ourself and keep us from hurting others when we think they are getting in the way of what we want. You are our true provider. We thank you for that. In Jesus’ name, Amen.