Today's Passage 1 Timothy 1

Both of Paul's letters to Timothy have always been encouraging to me.  There is one thing here in this chapter that has caused me some extra studying however.  It's what Paul says at the beginning of verse 9:

"We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers..."

My first thought when reading this was "Does that mean if we are saved we don't have to follow the law?!?"  After some studying and further thought I realized that the motives behind my initial reaction revealed the purpose of Paul's words.  As humans we often have this mentality of doing just enough to get by.  We obsess over "the rules" so that we know exactly how far we can push them.  What Paul is saying in this passage is the law is here so that the lawbreakers will know that they have crossed the line of what God says is acceptable.  As believers or "the righteous" we should be striving to be closer to God which is in the opposite direction of the line of the law.

If as believers we are constantly struggling to stay on the right side of the law then we are at the farthest point from God that a believer can be.  It's like studying to make a 70 on a test because that's what you need to pass instead of studying to make a 100.   There are far too many believers that are consumed with the law in God's word instead of their relationship with God.  The mercy that God grants us should be our focus not what we can do to measure up to the law.