It’s that time of year, yellow school buses taking kids to school. Growing up, my folks always asked, “What did you learn today?” I always said, “Nuttin,” but that wasn’t true. We are taken to school to learn lessons necessary for life.
“Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law; imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:23-24). The Greek word translated “guardian” actually was a slave who led the master’s son to school, like a school bus does today. It’s a great illustration of what the holy Law of God does. The Law is all the “Thou shalts” and “Thou shalt nots” of the Bible, and there are hundreds and hundreds of them. Try as we might, we can’t get passing marks from the One who is grading us. I need help! That’s how the Law of God is like a school bus. It brings us to a place where we get off the bus of ourselves and are welcomed into the school where the Holy Spirit teaches us God’s forgiveness, help, and hope in Jesus. In this school of the Gospel, we learn so much! We are justified, acceptable to God, by His gift in Jesus, received through faith, just as Paul says.
This is a bus ride we take every day. You’re not in school anymore, but have you gone on a group trip taking a yellow school bus? Not very comfortable is it? The seats are not cushy. Not much room for long legs. You feel the bumps in the road. Adult life isn’t always comfortable either. Health issues. Worries about family. Fixed income. Diminishing energy. Waiting forever for a response from an impersonal bureaucracy. Thou shalt this and thou shalt not that. Imperfect life. Like a school bus, we’re on a Law trip every day of our adult lives, but the Good News is the teacher greeting us kids at the curb. “Get off the Law trip,” the Spirit says, “and come into the Good News of Jesus!” So, next time you see a yellow school bus, remember how great it is to turn from the bumps and hurts of life to the Gospel school of Jesus.
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