Is the Law your God?

In 1 Timothy 1, Paul is writing to Timothy in Ephesus. The Ephesian church was becoming a place where people were getting too hung up on false doctrine and following the law to the tee rather then lifting each other up in love. Paul addresses this especially in regards to the "fantasy stories" and "fanciful family trees that digress into silliness". This of course is referring to the church getting caught up in the twisting of the Word and the useless genealogies that caused more division than unity. The letter then transitions to what needs to be focused on, taught, and lived. And that is love. So if you take a step back here, there is a battle between the doctrine, or law, of the Ephesian church and the loving nature of Christ.

I never really thought about it before, but sometimes I get too worried about following the "law" so perfectly that I always fall short. Instead of getting hung up on this I need to have love be the purpose. God is love, a message that the apostle John used as a theme in all of his writings. Now I am not saying that the law needs to be ignored but rather used as a guideline for those already seeking the Lord. Paul goes onto say that it is designed for those that are not yet living for Christ. For us that claim to follow Christ, we need to be more concerned with our personal relationships with Him than making sure that we stay with in the lines. It is the personal versus the impersonal. Jesus wants to know us because of how much we love Him, not because how well we keep the rules. I was listening to a sermon recently on this and how impossible it is to keep the law. There is no way on earth that we as humans can keep all the rules set before us. That is why we ALWAYS fall short, and for some people this is what keeps them down. They are looking more to the law then they are to the Lord. The law was given to us to help us not rule us. The law, in a sense, is more like road signs pointing us in the right direction. Once we have arrived it is on us to maintain the relationship so that we stay there, but if we get "lost" again we need to use the road signs to get us back there.

So instead of worshipping the thing that points us to the Lord, we need to worship Lord and us utilize the law to help us get there and remain there. So when it comes down to it, who or what is your God? If it is the law are you a happy Christ follower or a miserable failure? I would guess the latter. Take a step back and adjust what leads you. May it be the Lord in heaven who loves you and cares for you. May He be your God.