James 1:6-8

Continuing our stroll through James 1 we happen upon some verses that may at first trouble us a bit, 1:6-8:

6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double minded man, unstable in all he does.

Now should we take this the way many Pentecostal TV preachers and "faith-healers" might preach it - that if we just believe enough and have enough faith we can get what we want and, conversely, when our prayers aren't answered (or we don't get the answer we want) it is because we don't pray hard enough or exercise enough faith? NO! Those who preach it that way are dead wrong! As if God's will was dependent upon some subjective level of faith or prayers on the part of finite men.

The key to this passage is, I think, in the concept of being double minded. The double minded person is one who has two agendas, who is pulled in two directions, and tries to serve two masters. On the one hand he wants God's favor and may have genuine desire to live for God. On the other hand, he wants to please this world and serve himself or something other than God. Thus he has two minds, figuratively speaking. He is unstable because he is constantly aiming for two targets at once. The slightest bump in the road could send him teetering way off course. When hard times come (and remember the context is suffering, read the first few verses), he doesn't know how to respond because he doesn't know where his heart really is. Thus he is blown about by the waves.

God demands our whole hearts and lives. Jesus taught that we cannot serve two masters; it just isn't possible. To ask God for wisdom (or whatever) without being fully committed to His agenda in our lives (and in the universe as a whole) is to want to have our cake and eat it too. We want His blessing and the assurance of His will, but we also want to manage our own agenda and pursue our own selfish and/or worldly desires. This cannot be.

Are you double minded? Does your life, your prayers, your speech, etc, indicate that you have one mind or two? To be sure we all struggle with sin in our lives and struggle with what Paul calls the "old self" and its sinful desires. But does the overall flow of your life show a single-minded follower of Christ, or an unstable, double minded person?