(Exo 20:13) You shall not murder.
Isn’t it terrible about all these murders we are hearing about? And it’s not just a few, it’s a lot! Murders, murder-suicides, brutal details that make you shudder. We’re not reading from a fictional murder-mystery book series. We’re reading about the real mystery of murder done in series. Revelation says murder will be dominant during the Tribulation time. (Rev 9:21) And they did not repent of their murders . . . So, you can see how we are building up to the end times.
But as violent and gruesome as murder is we have to ask ourselves . . . have we committed murder? What am I talking about? You know, the times we have murdered someone in our hearts. Like Cain, we’ve killed someone, but we’ve done it in our thoughts. We were hurt, ripped off, torn apart by someone. They sought to destroy our lives. They left their mark of pain and injury and distress. We responded by assassinating that person in the privacy of our own minds.
(1 John 3:15) Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
(Mat 5:21-22) "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' 22 "But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire.
Oh God forgive us! Our hands might be clean but there’s that bloody glove at the crime scene of our soul. You have made an investigation and the guilt lies with us! How can we worship when there is carnage in our hearts? (Jer 7:9-10) "Will you . . . murder . . . and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, 'We are delivered to do all these abominations'? (Mat 5:24) "leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Jesus, you were murdered so we would never have to be incarcerated in a prison of hate. (Acts 5:30) "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Help us to forgive from our hearts (Mat 18:21-35). Give us the supernatural love we need to rise above the bitterness that festers and the wrath that rages just under our skin. (Rom 5:5) . . . because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Louie