The Sixth Commandment and the Stomach Flu

In the community group I belong to we recently discussed the Sixth Commandment. We talked about why “You shall not murder” is a better translation of Exodus 20:13 than “You shall not kill.” We considered how Jesus, in Matthew 5:21-24, extended the meaning of this commandment to apply to our attitudes and not just our actions. We discovered that we all tended to have the kind of attitudes and thoughts Jesus was referring to in that passage at one time or another.

We agreed that the reason we give place to those feelings and attitudes is because of our short-sightedness regarding the purposes of God. We often don’t understand how God is using that inconsiderate driver who cuts us off on the expressway; we don’t understand His purpose for allowing contention to exist between ourselves and our friends and relatives. It’s extremely difficult to be in the midst of a toddler’s temper tantrum and understand that God has a purpose for all of it.

Reminded of God’s unseen purposes as I prepared for church the next morning, I considered the unseen purposes God might have for the “stomach flu” my family had recently suffered through. My response to it fell far short of the faithful response God requires in situations like this. Selfishness, self-pity and fear- these and more are the ways I responded, all the time knowing that I was only complicating God’s purposes.

I was struck, then, how God still works His purposes through us, even though we are so deeply flawed and our responses often so disobedient. Because of the sacrifice of His only Son, our flaws and our disobedience are covered. Christ intercedes for us, covering our imperfections with His own perfection. Christ makes it so that our righteous God’s purposes are carried out through us, even as we complicate things.

Our thoughts and attitudes often betray our lack of understanding of the purposes God has for us. It is a great relief, then, to know that through Christ, those same thoughts and attitudes do not form the basis on which our value to God is judged.