Running a yellow light

Romans 13:9
Matthew 22:36-40

image credit

Have you ever run a yellow light when you could have easily stopped? Technically you've obeyed the law which allows you to continue driving until the stoplight turns red. But were you obeying the spirit of the law which warns you to stop if you're able to before the light turns red? If you're really cutting it close, the light might be "orange": yellow when you reach the intersection but red before you drive all the way through. If the letter of the law is all you care about, where is the line between clear obedience because the light is yellow and disobedience for driving through an orange light--maybe even one you thought would still be yellow by the time you reached the intersection but turned red faster than you anticipated?
.
A relationship with God can never be built by simply obeying the letter of His Law. The Israelites proved that time and again. Each aspect of the Law leads us toward loving God and loving our neighbor. If we focus on obeying the spirit of the Law, we'll generally end up obeying the letter of the Law also. But if we focus our efforts on the letter without any attention to the desire behind it, we will fail miserably.