December 11 | Standing Against Violence
Genesis 6:11, “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.”
During the time of Noah the book of Genesis describes the earth as violent and corrupt. Mankind was set only on doing evil and the imaginations of their hearts were continually filled with wickedness. Furthermore, Genesis 6:6-7 records, “6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.’”
Sadly, today we are seeing the same kind of violence and corruption on the earth that marked the days of Noah. Urban violence in the U.S. has reached unimaginable heights in cities like Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Detroit, and New York. The average number of homicides in the U.S. per year is around 16,000. Per year the homicides in the U.S. are more than double the total loss of life in both the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars since 2001 (around 6,700 deaths)!
Every murder has its own unique circumstances and background story; however, one thing is certain- God was against every one of them! “Thou shall not murder” has been the foundation of God’s moral code since the time of Cain and Abel and the Ten Commandments were given to Moses.
God said the reason He hates murder is because it is wrongfully ending the life of one of His image-bearers.
After the flood God told Noah the value of human life and that the penalty of murder is death; Genesis 9:6, “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.” In the New Covenant Jesus expanded the reach of what He considered murder to also include hatred; Matthew 5:22, “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”
Even though hatred doesn’t have the same judicial penalty on earth (death), it does have the same spiritual judgment- eternity in hell. John said in Revelation 21:8, “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers… they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.”
Therefore, we should stand against violence in the following five ways; (1) Pray for murderers and wrathful people to be born again. (2) Forgive your enemies for the sins they have committed against you in anger. (3) Try to make peace with those who cause trouble in the community. (4) Protect the innocent from those who try to hurt people. (5) Pray for God to remove violence from the land through preaching the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:15).
Reflection
Do you believe Jesus is the answer to anger and violence?
Action
- Explain from the Bible why violence is sinful. Martin Luther wrote, “Nothing good ever comes of violence.”
- Pray that God will use you to reach those who are violent with the gospel of peace and that you will not let anger have mastery over you.
- Resources: “The Cross and the Switchblade,” by David Wilkerson & “Anger: Handling a Powerful Emotion in a Healthy Way,” by Gary Chapman.
One Year Reading Plan
Amos 4:1-6:14, Revelation 2:18-3:6, Psalm 130:1-8, & Proverbs 29:21-22. Click here to read online.