The Ohio Independent Baptist, April 1968

Glimp es of Truth --------------------------- from the Greek New Testament By Dr . Geo. Lawlor II ANXIETY'' nc ).f the 11lt1. t ign1ficant W rd l t1 the e\\ e ~ tan1ent \ ith relati n t) the da,1, hri tian life i the ., , r eek. n tin 111er i 11111a. "care. thought , rtn iet .·· The \ ord i derived fron1 a v rb 111eridzo \\ hich mean "'to be dra\\ n in fir t ne direction and then an ther." hence. Hto be di tracted.,. th rd actually has the conno- tation f "over-anxiety? a tate of being more than normally excited ··,\, rrv." More Chri tian are victims ., f v orry than any other ingle mental habit. and lavery to thi vice inter– fere with our Chri tian witne s. W.hen we are in uch a sitate of mind, pre ed with over-anxiety and near– f ran tic with worry, we oannot do our b t, cannot make reliable deci ions, plea e the Lord, cannot serve Him tru tworthily. The whole Christian at,titude to living and erving depend on our correct understanding of this mo t important word. A Double Connotation It should be noted at the outset that the word h a a double connotation. The word is used by Christ to desig– nate the "care of this life' ' ( meri- 111nais) in Lu. 21: 34; and Peter bids hi fellow-Chri tians to cast all their ' care' ( merimnan ) upon God (I Pet. 5: 7) : but Paul tates in II Cor. 11 :28 that the heavie t burden of all upon him i the "ca~e' ( merimna) of all the churche . Obviously, the cares of this life about which the Lord warns us in the light of His return from heaven, and which Peter admonishe us to cast upon God, are not the same thing as the ' 'care of all the churches' which was committed to the charge of P aul . It is the first of these two aspects with which we are concerned in this study. In the contemporary Greek of the papri we find several interesting ex– amples of the two ...fo ld meaning of this word. A man writes to a fr iend and advises him that -s ince he is in– volved in so much anxiety { meri- 1nnais). he should pray to the god Zeus. A wife writes to her absenlt husband: " J cannot even leep be– cau e night and day my one ,vorry ( 111 e ri11z11a ) is your safety." An absent APRIL, 1968 PAGE 16 111c 111l1c1 CJ f a fa t11il wri tc'-i back home a11(i ,a,, : " I an1 now w~iting in h ,lste tl1 prc,rc11t y t1r being a,1 ,ioz,s ( 111eri- 11111ei . ) • tor I wil l ec that you arc n t v, rrtc l " 111 thcr who learn, that her . on i\ well e clai n1 : "Th at i all 111 pra er and my 011 ,riet)' (111e ri11111a) !'~ father wri te to his ah. cnt on : " I de ire therefore th at tt make known to u your plight ,lnd ,vorrie· ( 111eri111neisei ) . ' Ana– creon ay that when he drinks wine, hi " ivorrie ( 111eri1nr1ai) go to leep. ' Two n1en who have bu ine dealin,g are corr ponding, and one write to the other : °For your security (ameri- 11111ia) I have i ued to you this con– tract ." He h a drawn up the contr,act and ratified it o that the other man will not worry. In the letter of Ari tea the que tion is asked: "What pre erves a kingdom?" and the an- wer fo llow : "Care ( rneri,nna ) and watchfulness to ee that no injury i inflicted by those who are set in po ition of authority over the people." And Xenophon tell how Socr 1 ates said to the soldier, Pericles: ' 'I thi nk you take 1nuch trouble ( 1neri1nnan ) that you may not unconsciously lack any knowledge useful to a general" (Xeno– phon, Memorabilia 3: 5 :23 ). Right and Wrong So the double con·notation of this word become clear. There is a ri.(?ht anxiety which is concern , care, tak– ing earnest thought of something or someone. But there is a wrong anxiety which is worry, o,,,er-anxiety, distrac– tion mental panic. The anxiety about things pertaining to this earthly life (Lu. 21: 34), i.e. over-involvement in these affairs whiich produces over– anxiety - is always wriong. Too much care and thought and concen 1 tration over these earthly things crowds out of the mind eternal things and the time for thought upon Chri tian duty and responsibility. As Wi,lli 1 am Bar– clay remarks: ' 'A man may be so much with men that he has no time 1to be with God. He may have so many things to say to men 1.ha.t he ,hias no time to pray to God." We may become so involved in so many things in thi life that ,are not neces- arily bad themselves, but which throw us into a state of ·mental dis– traction and we worry ourselves away from the Lord . Anxieby - worry - about the future is also alway wrong, because it fails to take into full ac– cou·nt ·the fact that the Lord knows all, has promised. to meeJt our needs , and will never leave us nor for ake us. It ignore the truth tbaJt since God care for the bird and the flowers He will urel y care for H 1 is own. In Matt . 6:?5. hrist say, " 'f 'akc ,, ~A 1 /1011.ff /1r ( 111eri111r1ate) for your life.. : Do 1101 worrv about the dail y life a no it ~ nece \ilies for od will provid~ In v<; . 27, hri~t a<;k<; Hwhi ch of yol hy !akin .ff tl1ot1g /1t ( 111eri1nnon ) car ttdd one cubit unto his tature?" Wil worry do u good? Will it benefit us or olve the problem for u , or wil it make u any be tter , or i,mprove ou1 ituation i·n any way? The answer j , obvious. In vs . 28 and 31, the verb form ,of the word appear again, an(! then in v . 34, the Lord states "There fore take no thought ( mei meri 11ineiseite) I or the ,nor row . . ." D< not worry about tom orrow . Worn and di traction incapacitate us fron meeting responsibil1tie and problem 1 when they do come. Over-anxiet~ doe not make u more able to f ac( up to the ituation, it makes us les. able to do so. A Besetting Sin W 1 orry i wrong when it is involve< in the expenditure of e·nergy on non essential things. This was the cas, with Martha when the Lord said t~ her: "Marrt:ha Martha, thou art care f ,, I ( over-anxious ,neri mnas) abou many things. " Martha was fussin, 1 over too many non-essentials an< 1 wa working herself into a state o distraction. Worry over circu•mstances and how to face rt:he .trials and op pos,iit-ions that will rome is ailso wronL (Lu. 12: 11). Worry about how yo, are going to please people is wron) ( I Cor. 7: 32-34). Worry about thing in general is wrong (Lu. 12:26 Worry is .thus a besetting sin amon. Chri 1ians, because God has ,pro vided a life free from worry an1 over-anxiety. The Blessed Cure! The cure for worry is wonderfull et forth in I Pe. 5: 7, ' 'Cast all YQU care ( meri,nnan) upon H 1 im ( God f for He careth for you ," and ·in Phlt 4: 6, 7, which is the greart:est passag in the New Testament relating n ~he cure for worry: ''Be not over anxious about anything· ,blllt in every thing by prayer ,and supplication wit' thanksgiving let your requests be mad, known unto God. And the peace o God which rises 1aibove ail'l under stand 1 ing shaJl guard your hearts an1 minds by Christ Jesus." Subscribe to: $2.00 per year The Ohio Independent Baptist FOR A FRIEND Box 160 Xenia, Ohio 45385 THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIS