However, learning to ride a bike is a tricky business, which usually involves the painful experience of falling off. That process is greatly improved by using training wheels - a pair of small supporting wheels that are fixed to the either side of the rear wheels of the bike. They help you to gain a degree confidence and control on the bike, while the training wheels keep you vertical.

Training wheels, though, are not just used for cycling. Most of us go through life with the training wheels on in at least one area of our lives – where we are dependent on some form of support system that will prevent us from failing. While these support systems provide a degree of stability, they also prevent us from becoming all that God wants us to be. God’s intention for all of us is to reach a point of maturity - where we are not reliant on these external influences and support systems. The Apostle Paul describes maturity as a point when we are no blown of course by every wind of adversity the hits us (Ephesians 4:14).

Most cyclists know that training wheels are not intended to be a permanent fixture on the bike - they are meant to be a temporary measure that can be used and removed. While they provide stability to the bike, they also limit its performance. They slow you down and prevent you from being able to lean in on sharpen corners, as they are intended to keep the rider upright. No one is going to win the Tour de France on a bike with training wheels, but a survey of the riders may reveal that they once used training wheels as a child.

So what are some examples of ‘support systems’ that we may be dependent on? Peter Scazzero, in his challenging book “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality”, uses the term “false identities” or “masks” to describe some of the “training wheels” that we may be relying on. He talks about the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness and how satan offered three false identities to Jesus, to prise him away from his God-given life and identity.