Clever Free Methodist

Anxiety. That word, alone, probably triggers a myriad of past experiences or even thoughts about current events and things we’re facing. The definition of anxiety is, “a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.”   I find it interesting that Jesus addresses anxiety in two distinct ways to caution us from letting anxiety paralyze us into ineffectiveness or to spiritually give up. Luke 21:34 , Jesus said, “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from … the anxieties of daily life….” Jesus is saying to trust in God and to keep our priorities in the right order.   Jesus connects two very different things in this passage: drowsiness and anxieties . Generally, anxiety would seem to be associated with insomnia rather than drowsiness. Cares and worries tend to keep us awake rather than lull us to sleep. We need to be very careful not to slip into drowsiness and laziness that says, “God will provide; I don’t nee

You are the Church. I am the Church. We are the Church together. That may sound familiar as many of us have sang these words in the song “We Are the Church” by Richard Avery and Don Marsh. The first verse is very powerful: “The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people.” The Church is not an organization, but an organism. It is living. It is people. I like what the Free Methodist Church says about the church in its “Book of Discipline”  on page one: “It is clear from Scripture that the church is of God and for people. It is His creation. Christ is its head. The church is the people of God chosen for a purposeful partnership in accomplishing the will of God on earth.” This concept of the church makes it more understandable why Paul was so passionate in his letter to the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 3:9, 16 , we see to powerful statements of Paul: “For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God