To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
He just walked in the door – casually, as if this was the most normal day ever. It was a normal day. A school day. But it was nowhere near time for school to be out.
“Are you OK?”
“What? Huh? Yeah I’m fine.”
“Why are you home from school?”
“I just thought it was time to come home.”
She took our third child back to his second grade classroom. There was actually a bit of concern on her part. Why had he been able to just walk home? Why had the teacher not missed him? In these days of school shootings and heightened security concerns it’s hard to imagine how that had happened. But it did. And we told him he must never do that again.
I see them almost every morning. Parents walking their children to school. Some of the children’s backpacks are bigger than the child! But there they go, safely escorted to school. When the school day is over parents will return to the school and bring their children home with them – unless they are older and able to make their own way to and from school.
In Paul’s day special duty slaves called child conductors were assigned to young boys. These trustworthy slaves were charged with the duty of supervising the life and morals of boys belonging to the better class. The boys were not allowed so much as to step out of the house without them before arriving at the age of manhood. The boys probably didn’t like that much, and may have tried to find ways of getting around these super-strict child-conductors.
I wonder whether we do the same thing. Trying to find loopholes in God’s laws. Seeking end-runs around God’s limits. Searching for how far we can go before we’re called on the carpet. But just as boys grow up to learn self-discipline we must grow up to find grace a much better relationship than trying to see how far we may wander before we get into trouble.
At times, we may need to be re-directed by a word from God’s law. But this is not a word of condemnation; it is a call to return to grace and faith. Life under God’s grace is far better than living in fear of the law’s demands. When our faith is rooted in God’s promises in Jesus, we find peace, hope, and life in His grace. That certainly doesn’t mean we wander away or abandon God’s ways. But it does mean that when we do wander we remember that God’s love and grace in Jesus is ready to receive us back into a life of grace and faith.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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