When students graduate from high school or college, it is celebrated with what is called commencement exercises. Commencement refers not to an end but the beginning of something new. With graduation comes a leaving behind of certain comfortable circumstances, in order to move into a life of greater freedom and greater responsibility. Israel experienced this same process in leaving the bondage of Egypt. Though they were set free, they sought to return to the comforts of Egypt, forgetting about the bondage they were under. Likewise in nature baby eagles are pushed out of their nests by the mother eagle so that they might learn to fly. Though they may prefer the comfort of their nest to the seemingly dangerous act of flying, they would never learn to fly if left in the nest.
In our text in Galatians, Paul announces that the time has come for he who has come to Christ to leave the bondage of the elementary principles of the law in order to live a life of freedom in the grace found in Christ. Though it is human tendency to go back to living in a manner that is familiar, we must realize that such a life is one of bondage. Therefore you are no more a servant, but as son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
