The sixth of God’s Ten Commandments is “Thou shalt not murder.” [ Exodus 20:13 ] Many think they will never break this one, but the Apostle James says, “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” [ James 2:10 ] The Ten Commandments are like a window. A window is either not broken or it’s broken. It may only have a tiny crack but it’s broken!

All the commandments are equally important but to our great loss today they are being ignored and broken. The longest and most detailed command is the 4th, this is about keeping one day in seven as a holy day. If everyone obeyed this command and kept Sunday as a day for worship instead of work, they would begin to love and reverence God. This would lead them to respect His creation plus property and people. They would not steal from property and would so appreciate the sanctity of the human body that they would never commit murder.

There are of course many kinds of murder. The Apostle John wrote, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer.” [ 1 John 3:15 ] Unjustified hatred is cruel and in the eyes of God it is murder. Someone’s good character can also be murdered by a stab in the back from a sharp malicious tongue.

The most treacherous type of murder is the murder of the soul. This happens when the impression is given that God is so loving that the majority of people will go to heaven, but this is not true. [ See Matthew 7:14 ] The kindest thing is to be honest and to tell people that hell is real. We can then show how God loved them so much that He sent His only Son to pay the penalty for their sins. Jesus will open the gates of heaven to all who sincerely turn from their sins and trust Him as their Saviour. Watch this space!