DOUBLE MINDED!

Monday, February 18, 2019

DOUBLE MINDED!

James 1:8

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

James 4:8

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

           James is the only writer who uses the words “double minded” and he does so twice. In both cases the Greek is dipsuchos which literally means “two-spirited.” Practically, it means “vacillating in opinion or purpose.” It is stronger than one who can’t make up his mind. Here it refers to one who has decided he or she can walk both sides of the fence at the same time.

           The product of a double mind is instability. Here the Greek word is akatastatos which means “inconstant” but is akin to a similar Greek word which means “unrestrainable.” This person is hard to pin down. He or she is not simply moody but volatile and perhaps explosive. 

           The double-minded Christian is wholeheartedly uncommitted. Now, if that sounds strange to you, then you are beginning to get the meaning of the problem. I remember a little poem I learned as a child and it goes like this:

There was a little girl

Who had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead.

And when she was good

She was very very good

But when she was bad

She was horrid!

Matt 6:24

24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.

Dear Lord, even Paul experienced the pain of instability in Romans chapter 7. Help me to find the peace he found in Romans 8. AMEN