Let us be eager to leave what is familiar for what is true. —Francis Chan
The law was not designed to bring freedom. It was designed as a fence creating a place of captivity and protection for God’s people. Paul knew the first step to dancing was to stop marching. Marching is a sign of imprisonment; it’s a sign of living under the law.
Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed… Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. (Galatians 3:23, 25)
During Paul’s day, wealthy families hired a pedagogos to care for their sons between the ages of 6 and 18. These “guardians” were responsible for all of the child’s training and often held brutal discipline in high regard. Yet they also played an important role in protecting these sons from the unwanted public advances common in Roman times.
That’s the image of a guardian that Paul has in his mind as he writes about our freedom from the law—a strict guardian that both disciplined and protected. Yes, those images still appear in many forms in our world today, “guardians” that seem so familiar and so safe… but are they?
So in Christ Jesus [we] are all children of God through faith… (Galatians 3:26)
Now that we are saved, we are free to be defined by Christ and nothing else. He invites us to a place of full dependency upon Him, and in this place we are everything. But the choice is ours, moment by moment. Will we, indeed, eagerly leave what is familiar for what is true?
Lord Jesus, I eagerly confess that You are the way, the truth, and the life. I choose to live each day in radical trust that we are experiencing life together. I leave behind all titles given to me by this world and embrace the one title that matters—a child of God. Beneath the stricture of the law, I saw clearly the beauty of Your gentle grace. This freedom—this intimacy—is what You had in mind since creation. May we walk in this place together, may we dance in this place together today. Amen.