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The Bible teaches that life is a gift from God, our Creator. For example, Job says to God, “Your hands shaped me and made me…Remember that you molded me…Did you not…clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life” (Job 10:8-12).

David declares, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). Writing by inspiration, the psalmist clearly says that he was a human being before he was born.

Before he was even born, John the Baptist “leaped for joy” in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:44). Unborn children, then, are human beings both physically and emotionally.

It is not for us to take these precious lives through abortion. God’s Word is clear, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).

That commandment applies to life at all ages. Only in the case of capital punishment or a nation’s defense of its citizens does God allow for exceptions. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man” (Genesis 9:6). The government is “God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:4).

Nor are human beings to decide that some newborn lives are not worth living (infanticide) or that some elderly people should be done away with (euthanasia). God does not even give us the authority to take our own lives (suicide). With David, we will simply entrust our lives to God: “My times are in your hands” (Psalm 31:15).

The time that God gives us here on earth is a time of grace. God graciously gives it to us so that we might come to know and believe in Jesus, through whose death and resurrection we enjoy forgiveness and eternal life (John 3:16).

Having come to faith in the Savior, we are to spend our time in loving service toward God and our neighbor (Matthew 22:3739). Part of that service includes sharing the good news of salvation, for the Lord “wants all people to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4 NET).

This is God’s Word on life. Let us appreciate, protect, and share this priceless gift! “I have come that they may have life,” says Jesus, “and have it to the full” (John 10:10).