Focal Passages: Exodus 20:13; 1 Samuel 26:7-11, 22-25
Oct. 6, 2015, is a day I will never forget. It is the day I saw my daughter for the first time. She was only a little dot in that ultrasound picture, yet I knew she was a human. I knew she was created in God’s image and that she was precious to God.
Why did all of these things come to my mind? We know as believers that all of human life from the moment of conception until the moment we breathe our last is valuable to God. We are called to respect human life as God does.
In Exodus 20:13 we see the commandment, “You shall not murder.” It is a tragedy that in our culture today it is largely acceptable to take the lives of innocent people in certain scenarios, whether they be in the womb or through euthanasia. We need to see life is precious to God – all of it.
We respect life by acknowledging God’s authority over it. In 1 Samuel 26 we see where David approaches Saul while he is sleeping. If you remember what was going on at this time, Saul was seeking out David to kill him. Yet David approaches Saul while he is asleep and takes his spear. Instead of killing him with it, David goes a good distance away and calls to Saul.
Why would David not take the chance to kill the man who has been hunting him down? David respected life by acknowledging God’s authority over it. We need to see that all of life is valuable to God, even those who may seek to do us wrong.