When Being Good Isn't Good Enough: 21 Days of GraceSample

The Purpose of God’s Law (Con't)

Third, the law is our teacher, bringing us to Christ and keeping us there. Paul wrote to the Galatians: “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (3:24). He wrote to the Romans, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet’” (7:7). And so the law of God allows me to see my failure. If I hadn’t known about my failure, I would never have come to Christ. And every time I go to the law to check how I am doing, those areas where I have not been faithful to the law cause me to turn anew to Christ for forgiveness, acceptance, and strength. 

And fourth, the law informs us where the minefields are.

Oh, how I love Your law!

It is my meditation all the day.

You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies (Ps. 119:97-98).

Most people, if they were honest, would admit that they define sin in terms of enjoyment. In other words, if you didn’t enjoy it, it wasn’t a sin. Conversely, if you did enjoy it, it probably was. By defining sin that way, we make God into a deity whose main purpose is to keep us from enjoying ourselves.

That simply isn’t true. Instead, the law tells us how to be the happiest and the most fulfilled in a fallen world where things are never going to be right.

You see, when God says not to commit adultery, He isn’t trying to keep us from having fun. He tells us not to commit adultery because He doesn’t want us to get hurt. He commands us to love our neighbor, not because He wants to keep us busy but because that’s the best way to live with our neighbor.