The Hot Seat

“Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor” (Galatians 3:24, 25).

When I was a toddler, my favorite toy was a plastic, three-wheel trike with a big front wheel. I called it my “hot seat.” Boy, did I tear around the yard on that baby! Without realizing it, those three wheels were teaching me something far greater than anywhere they could take me.

Soon it was time for me to graduate from three wheels to two. I remember my Dad running alongside me, encouraging me with every pedal stroke. What a feeling when I finally got the hang of it!

Then I was riding everywhere on my bicycle and that “hot seat” began gathering dust in the back yard. It wasn't that it was now a bad thing or that I was no longer "required" to use it. It remained a good thing that had done its job. Without the “hot seat,” I never would have known the joy of riding a bicycle.

Without the law, I never would have known the joy of a faith relationship with God.