In 1 Timothy 1:12-14, we see the dramatic difference in how Paul saw himself, and how he knew God saw him. God saw him as a trustworthy servant, but Paul calls himself a blasphemer. What's that all about?

Between 2020 and 2021, the number of hate crimes in New York City doubled. Crimes against Jews increased by half, and still is much higher than any other demographic, but crimes against Asians more than tripled, with crimes due to sexual orientation not far behind. When you add up Jewish, Asian, and Sexual Orientation, the total is 426 of 538 or nearly 80%.

In these next few verses, Paul contrasts how the Lord sees him with how he sees himself. The difference in their perspectives can really be helpful for all of us. He begins, "12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service."

"Teamwork makes the dream work."

So, knowing what the Bible says about sin helps us to know, as believers, what to avoid.

It's not fair that some men have hands that allow them to hold a basketball with either hand, while others can barely wrap their fingers around a baseball.

Last time, I talked about the law, but who are the righteous Paul is talking about?

Since none of us can boast of experiential righteousness, all we have is best described as positional righteousness.

Over the last couple of months, I've been publishing my blogs to my website philroutly.com under the title "Five Minutes with Phil Routly." And within it, there have been two tracks - "I've been thinking…" (24 so far - which could be on just about anything I've been thinking about) and "About God's Word," (12 so far) which is currently my take on 1 Timothy.

We just spent three posts talking about 1 Timothy 1:8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. And today we move to the next verse: We also know that the law is made not for the righteous.

So if the law is not made for the righteous, who are the righteous? I'll get to that in my next post, but let's begin with why God gave us the law.

It seems to me there's not a lot of thinking going on!