Gospel Prism

It’s hard not be double-minded.  It is far too easy to “speak out of both ends of the mouth,� to look one way towards a person but inwardly to be something completely opposite.  This past week I was at IKEA where I was looking for some drawers for my office.  I found this great piece of wood only to find it to be nothing but veneer.  Veneer is that wood-like composite material that has the finish of wood but inside is nothing more than, for lack of a better word, false wood.  And this is what it means to be double-minded.  It is to have the finish of something completely distance from who a person is internally.  Some people call this hypocrisy.  The funny thing about the accusation of hypocrisy is that the moment you accuse someone of being a hypocrite, you yourself become a hypocrite because the heart of the hypocrite is in every person.

We see this in James 4 where he asks the church, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights?�  The answer to this is pride as 4:6 tells us.  Every person deems himself or herself to be right.  When you do, you can quickly point out how others are wrong.  If you someone is late for a meeting, and you are on time, then in your heart you think, “This guy doesn’t respect my time.  That’s why he’s late.�  There is a sense of self-righteousness.  But when you are late, you want grace.  In fact, you might even expect grace or deem the person holding that back from you as ungracious.  Can there be anything more insidious than the proud heart that lives self-righteously.  According to James, this heart is the heart of quarrels, arguments, and wars.  It is a passionate heart, but passionate for the self’s propagation and self-glory.  It is the heart of adultery that finds temporary pleasure in the moment so long as self is glorified, at the cost of commitments, covenants, and contracts.  This is the heart that God will oppose.

The answer to this heart is humility.  James says: “Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.� (v. 10)  But can you believe that God will exalt you in the midst of humility?  When you initiate forgiveness, will you have faith that even if the person spurs you, you will be exalted?  This is the faith with works in James 2.  And this is the single-minded person, looking to God, drawn close to Him.