Have you ridden on a yellow school bus? Not too comfortable. Hard seats. Straight backs. Little leg room. Adults would rather take a luxury coach. The Law of God is like a yellow school bus. Thou shalt. Thou shalt not. Do this, and we strive to do it, but often not perfectly. Don’t do this, but sometimes we do what we are not supposed to do. There are rewards for how you perform in work and life, and there are punishments. You feel the bumps at work, in family life, at school, just from living. All these bumps, the effects of the Law in our lives, have a purpose. To bring you and me to confess our sinfulness, our total inability to save ourselves now or for eternity. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
“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 law was our guardian.” The Greek word for guardian was a slave who led the master’s children to school. So, think yellow school bus taking children to where they learn good things. Every day we experience the consequences of being sinners in a fallen world, feel the bumps of life, and are eager to get off the Law bus and go to Gospel School.
Jesus greets us and says, “Come unto me.” Gospel school is wherever Jesus teaches us His words of forgiveness, help, and hope. The Law brings you to Gospel School at church on Sundays. The Law brings you to Gospel School every day when you have your devotions. At Gospel school our teacher Jesus says, “I forgive you. I will teach you the way of faith, the way to heaven, and give you grace for daily life.”
You’ve probably heard the nursery ditty: “The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round all day long.” Every day for Christians is Law and Gospel, “all day long.” The best times of every day are when the bumps of the day bring us to see Jesus welcoming us to Gospel School.