Good Times

Good Times

When we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principals of the world. But now that you know God - or rather are known by God - how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principals? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! Galatians 4:3, 9 & 10 NIV

As children we needed the rule of our parents and guardians. We needed their tutelage if there was any hope of a productive and joyous adulthood. And following God works sort of the same way. We need God's law to instruct us. The law shows us what a good life looks like. When we were kids, the guidance of parents held us safe until we became of age. And as God's children, the law held us until we learned to live by faith, which is found only in Christ.

Now that we believe in Christ, we have been set free (John 8:36). But far too often we trade in our liberty for legalism. And I too am guilty of turning back to what I know (legalism) instead of moving forward with the one that made me free. Sometimes I think that people get accustomed to the vice-like grip of rules and religion. I think it is far easier to live life in slavery to religion because you know what to expect. It is a very different thing to face the unpredictability that freedom sometimes presents to us. On the other hand, I also think that some people fail to live in freedom because they go too far. You may be able to do anything, but not everything is profitable (1 Corinthians 6:12). With freedom we always have to strike a balance between rights and responsibility to God our Father.

The people in this verse were keeping the legalistic festivals and Mitzvot (law) of the Jews. This is a type of slavery, but we live in better times. We live in a good time, a time of freedom in Christ. We live in good times because we live in a greater revelation of Christ. I think that our times are unique because we now have the right to call God, “our Father”. And this is a privilege many are called to but only a fair few accept. We live in a time of grace. Not that we shun the law of God, but because of the Holy Spirit, we are living the law to the letter (Romans 2:28-29).