Why should Christians bother to read the Old Testament law? If Jesus has already paid the price for all my lawbreaking, why does it matter anymore? Why can’t I just love God and love other people like Jesus said?

Well, what does it really mean to love God and love other people? How does God want us to express our love for Him? What are some concrete ways I can show love to those around me? The Law of Moses helps Christians understand how to put our faith into action in all sorts of particular situations. This is why Paul says in verse 12 that the law is holy and righteous and good.

Of course, the Law has a different effect on those who haven’t yet come to know Christ as Lord and Savior. Instead of using the Law as a way of learning how to love others, they are all too often attracted to what the Law says is wrong precisely because it’s wrong. “Don’t tell me I can’t do something,” is the battle cry of the rebellious human spirit.

But as the Law serves to illustrate just how sinful we are, it performs yet another good purpose – it helps us see how desperately we need a Savior. As we read the Law we see not only that our thoughts and actions don’t line up with God’s expectations, but even that our desires are pointed away from God. So, as the Law convicts us of our sin, condemning us to death, it can bring us to the point of repentance, of turning away from our own desires and turning instead to God.

So let’s take another look at the Law, letting it shine its light into our hearts, revealing any thoughts, actions, or even desires that are out of accord with God’s plan for us. And let us turn away from all our rebellion, surrendering to our Lord. Let us turn away from our sin, letting our Savior wash us clean with His own blood.

Romans 7:7-12 (ESV)

7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.
9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.
10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.
11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.