Protective Custody - Gal. 3:23

"Until faith in Christ was shown to us as the way of becoming right with God, we were guarded by the law. We were kept in protective custody so to speak, until we could put our faith in the coming Savior." Gal. 3:23

God knew what he was doing when he picked a lawyer as his ambassador to the Gentiles! Christianity is on trial (or at least salvation by faith in Christ alone), and the letter to the Galatians is Paul's case for faith laid out in methodical and compelling fashion. I LOVE the guardian analogy! It perfectly explains God's purpose for the law and how he intended to use it; and as a Gentile, I must guard myself from slipping back into the law that I once knew: "He who dies with the most toys and accomplishments wins!" and "I don't need anyone's help, I can do it on my own." Part of Paul's analogy is that we had to obey our guardian until we reached an age our father set. In the real world, this is an age of supposed maturity. It initially made me question the analogy as I don't believe we have the maturity to handle the freedom that salvation offers (shown by the very actions that Paul is addressing in the Galatians). Then I realized, that unlike a child who is slowly gaining knowledge and maturity as he ages, we get the Holy Spirit the moment we are saved! We have EVERYTHING we need, we just don't realize it right away. How cool is that?!

Lord, help me to continually be sensitive to what your Holy Spirit is teaching and doing in my life.

Today's reading: Job 30; Ps. 120; Gal. 3, 4