Lawlessness...

Have you ever had one of those moments where you read your Bible and go, woah? I had one of those yesterday morning. It's kind of been a while for me since I had one of those overwhelming moments, so it was cool. It kind of felt like at that moment, God decided to unveil my eyes so I could see a little more of the bigger picture. It was quite exciting!
The basics of this information, I already knew. But it was just made so much more clear. The new "to me" information was found in Galatians 3: 24 - 4:7. I didn't (and still don't) really know why God made this information clear to me, but hopefully as I ponder it more, I will begin to know.

Here is the passage "24Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise.
1Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, 2but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. 3So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. 4But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,5so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" 7Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God."

So I read that and then I wrote this in my journal.
"Learned something new today - not quite sure of the significance but need to write it out. 3:24 says, Therefore the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. The Bible commentary explains that the word tutor came from the Greek word  paidagogoß which meant child-discipler or leader. In the Greek and Roman world the pedagogue was the guardian in the education and life of a minor (probably one who was an heir to wealth.) Basically, the child was considered a slave/property until a certain date which had been set by the father.
Well the same is true for the law, it was set as our tutor until we are adopted as sons/daughters in Christ.
However the Bible commentary and Galatians continue to say that just like the child did, when he became the 'son', so do we when we became sons and daughters of Christ. We resort back to our old ways in fear of the law or tutor. However we are no longer under the law, but rather the Father.
So the best question for me to ask - which Paul asked in Galatians 4:9 "But now that you have come to know God, or rather be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?" "
This whole lesson spells out freedom; freedom in Christ. The law of the Old Testament was given to help people realize that there is no earthly way to keep all the rules. We are sinful people and we fail so easily. If we live by the law (and if you aren't an adopted son or daughter of Christ - you follow the law), then the consequence of sin/failure is death. Very harsh, but that's the law. The consequence of sin is death. The only way to be saved from this punishment, is Jesus. He is the only true source of salvation. We look for it in other places, but nothing else works. Thankfully though, Jesus took care of that on the cross. He endured hardship, pain, suffering, terror, agony, loneliness - more than we could ever imagine - to save His people (us) from their (our) sins.  His death and resurrection are part of the foundation of our freedom in Christ. Scripture says that if we believe that Jesus is God's son, He died and rose again, we can be saved from the consequence of sin. Yeah, our earthly bodies will die, but our spirits will remain with Christ in eternity.

As a believer, I so easily get tied down in trying to follow "the rules" of what makes a good Christian. I think many of us do. However, we (those who have been "known by God") do have freedom.  Freedom in Christ means assurance of an eternity with him. It means that we are forgiven of our sins/failures. We don't have to try and be good. We may do good for a while, but inevitebly we'll fail. He has freed us from having to try and keep all of the laws perfectly. Of course we should have a code of conduct for our lives. But we have freedom and hope that can not be found anywhere else, other than through Jesus Christ.