Free to Bear Fruit

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

Continuing our journey through the Bible, this week’s reading is from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In this letter, Paul is frustrated with the church he had helped to form in Galatia. They were largely Gentiles, but apparently some Jewish had moved in and demanded that those in that church obey the Jewish law, including such things as circumcision. Paul says it is not about earning God’s love through obedience to laws but accepting God’s grace. Sometimes an inner voice tells us we’re not worthy, but Paul insists we are free from such burdens: “You are called to freedom!” It isn’t a matter of whether we deserve to be a part of the church, but that we accept the God-given grace and are thus relieved of such burdens as whether we are worthy. As Methodists, John Wesley spoke and wrote extensively about types of grace, so that in Methodism, grace is in our DNA. The question for us is how to respond to God’s grace given freely to us.