Numbers 35:16-21: in context

Among the laws about the cities of refuge, God draws a sharp line about the taking of life. The one who strikes another with a deadly instrument out of hatred, who lies in wait, who kills in hostility, is a murderer and must die. The law distinguishes such deliberate killing from accidental death, and it treats the deliberate taking of a life with the utmost seriousness: the murderer shall surely be put to death. Behind this severity lies a deep truth about the worth of human life.

The severity of the law against murder reflects the sacredness of human life. God treats the deliberate taking of a life with the utmost seriousness, requiring the highest penalty, because human life is not a common thing to be taken lightly, but sacred. And Scripture gives the reason plainly: whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for God made man in his own image. Human life is sacred because it bears the image of God; to take a human life is to destroy something that reflects God himself. This is why the taking of life is treated with such gravity: because of the worth and sacredness of the life that is taken. This gives us a right regard for human life, our own and others'. In a world that can treat human life cheaply, that can regard some lives as expendable or of little worth, Scripture reminds us that every human life is sacred, bearing the image of God, of immeasurable worth in his sight. This shapes how we regard others: not as expendable, not as of little value, but as sacred, image-bearers of God, each of infinite worth. And it shapes how we regard our own lives and those of the vulnerable, the weak, the unwanted: all bear God's image, all are sacred, all are of worth to him. And this regard reaches deeper than outward acts. Jesus extended the command against murder to the heart, teaching that the anger and hatred from which murder springs are themselves grave, that to despise or hate a person made in God's image is already a violation of their sacred worth. You have heard that it was said, do not murder, Jesus says; but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. The sacredness of human life calls us not only to refrain from killing but to regard every person, in our hearts, as sacred, resisting the hatred and contempt that devalue an image-bearer of God. This calls us to regard human life as sacred, in deed and in heart. The law's severity against murder reflects the immeasurable worth of human life, which bears God's image; and we are called to regard every human life, our own and others', the strong and the weak, the wanted and the unwanted, as sacred, of infinite worth to God, resisting not only the act of murder but the hatred and contempt in the heart that devalue an image-bearer of God, and honoring in every person the sacred worth God has placed there.

Do I regard human life, my own and others', the strong and the weak, the wanted and the unwanted, as sacred, bearing the image of God and of immeasurable worth, or do I ever treat some lives as cheap or expendable, or harbor the hatred and contempt in my heart that devalue an image-bearer, and can the law's severity against murder, rooted in the truth that man is made in God's image, together with Jesus deepening it to the heart, move me to honor the sacred worth God has placed in every human life, in deed and in heart?