Double-Mindedness

By John Stallings

A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. -- James 1:8

You probably remember the story. It happened just a few months ago. A man has perverted sex with a male prostitute while he uses illegal mind-altering drugs. The man is an ordained minister, the pastor of a church, and president of a national religious body as well as a spokesperson for a group who stands four-square against homosexuality.

This man lives one life with his wife & another with his gay partner. He preaches one standard to his congregation but lives by a standard that’s not what he preaches.

This man, who recently resigned in ignominious shame from all his posts, has problems on several levels. Not only does he have a mind-boggling sin problem, he’s a perfect poster-person for the double-mindedness Pastor James speaks of.

James says a double-minded person ----“must not expect to receive anything from God. -- James 1:6

A good definition of double-mindedness is….. “Thinking two ways at the same time.” Another word that has the same root is duplicity. A double-minded man is someone who is wavering or inconsistent. He is influenced by popular feeling & inclined to one opinion at one moment & a contrary one at another moment. He is irresolute, undetermined & distracted in all his ways. Spiritual double-mindedness is trying to hold on to a world-system & all that entails with one hand & God & His kingdom with the other. You could call it spiritual schizophrenia.

In the Greek, double-mindedness means, “two lives are being lived.” This man has chosen not to relinquish himself therefore God’s life is quenched & blocked from coming through. God may be trying to work with him but self-life is dominating him.

Double-mindedness is the devil’s game plan. He knows that double-mindedness will keep us…unstable in all our ways.

….Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against itself falleth. --- [Luke 11:17]

The opposite of double-mindedness is single-mindedness. Single-mindedness means---“there is only one life being lived here-God’s.”

Paul warns us in 2. Corinthians 11:3 about double-mindedness.

He says,--I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ.

Simplicity doesn’t mean naiveté’ or unschooled in the things of God; it means “singleness of mind.” The Greek word for simplicity is haplous, which means “something that is folded together, braided or intertwined.”

Simplicity in Christ means having our thinking folded together with & focused on Christ. Haplous therefore is the same thing as single-mindedness.

JOSEPH IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF SINGLE-MINDEDNESS IN GENESIS 39.

Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites traveling to Egypt & was assigned work in the household of Potiphar. Potiphar believed in Joseph & trusted everything into his hands. Too bad Potiphar’s wife wasn’t as trustworthy. In the absence of Potiphar she tried to entice Joseph to lie with her & of course he refused. One day she physically caught hold of him & his coat came off in her hands as he fled. I say this often but, Joseph always did have a hard time keeping a coat.

She lied & slapped Joseph with a rape charge & though Potiphar was grieved, he had no choice but to put him in prison.

Joseph to me is a perfect example of single-mindedness because though he was repeatedly tested his choice was to stay focused on God. This is a picture of a believer who keeps God’s thoughts in his mind.

DAVID IS AN EXAMPLE OF A DOUBLE-MINDED MAN IN- 2.Sam.11.

As you recall David was on the roof of his palace when he saw Bathsheba bathing next door. He thought she was absolutely beautiful & he wanted her. Rather than catch those ungodly thoughts as Joseph had, David allowed lustful thoughts to stir up his emotions, feed his desires & finally influence his actions.

David got so emotionally wrapped up that he called for Bathsheba & lay with her. When David learned that Bathsheba was pregnant he called her husband Uriah home from battle thinking he could cover-up his sin. But Uriah didn’t go home & sleep with his wife & David’s scheme didn’t work. David then put Uriah on the front lines to be killed & took Bathsheba to be his wife.

To me this makes David a perfect example of double-mindedness for even though he had God’s life in his heart he nevertheless chose to go with the tide & follow his own lust over what God was prompting him to do.[Acts 13:22]

Jesus has told us—we can’t serve God & mammon. He’s also told us we’re either for Him or against him. We can’t think with spiritual wisdom & the carnal mind at the same time.

I love a good apple. Apples are good for you. They used to say, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” From what I read apples have all kinds of nutrients in them. All I know is they are delicious & it’s good to know something so good is also good for you.

However there’s one kind of apple I like above all others. It’s called the “Candy apple,” or an apple dipped in a candy-like coating.

Scrumbdeliumpious! But my doctor tells me the candy apple can’t do anything good for me. As a matter of fact he says it’s bad for me. To make a long story short, the minute the nutritious apple is dipped in the sugary coating, all its nutritional value is cancelled out. In my opinion the apple tastes a lot better with the coating but it now has something on it that isn’t healthy, at least for me, & that’s sugar.

Likewise we can’t successfully mix godly wisdom with carnality. It may at first seem “sweeter” & more palatable but in the long run the benefits of heavenly wisdom get canceled.

I remember when I was about fourteen riding a horse for one of my first times. The horse I rode had a problem. I was that problem. The horse finally became so frustrated with me he just balked, gave up & wouldn’t do a thing. He was so disgusted he did everything short of going over & leaning against the fence.

We were stalled, no pun intended. The horse’s owner, who was trying to give me instructions, explained to me that this was one of his most highly trained horses. He was extremely sensitive & obedient to each & every command of the rider. But it was clear to see the horse didn’t appreciate me the least little bit, and there was a reason.

My instructor explained what I was doing wrong & when I corrected it, the horse & I were fine. The problem was, without realizing it; I was giving the poor horse several different commands at once. I was kicking him in the side saying get-e-up, & making a clucking sound with my tongue but I was pulling back on the reins at the same time. Some people might call a horse a dumb-animal but this horse was smart enough to know he couldn’t go forward & stand still simultaneously. I was being, well, double-minded, the horse knew it & very much resented it.

DOUBLE-MINDED POLITICIANS

We see & hear double-mindedness a lot during a political campaign. Have you noticed the thing one politician likes to catch another one at is being a “flip-flopper?” They all do it to one degree or another but they won’t allow each other to get away with it. Why? Because we know & they know if a person has a problem making a decision & standing by it, they can’t successfully lead the country.

Remember the famous line, “I voted for it before I voted against it?” That one line helped lose The White House for John Kerry.

I heard about a politician who was asked about a certain issue & he said, “Well, some of my friends are for it & some are against it.” When they pressed him further as to what he was for he retorted, “I’m for my friends.”

I heard about a man who had a little fur-ball dog. One day a lady came up & asked him what kind of dog it was. The man said, “Oh, this is a German police dog.” The lady said, “I’ve never seen a German police dog that looked like your little dog.” Whereupon the man answered; “Well, this dogs in the secret service.”

There are many secret service Christians. They attend church services & go through the motions of Christian behavior but their hearts aren’t in God’s work or His truth. God isn’t impressed with partial commitment & Jesus made it clear in Matthew 6:24;

No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one & love the other or else he will hold to the one & despise the other. Ye cannot serve God & mammon.

WHAT DOUBLE-MINDEDNESS ISN’T

Having a difficult time making a decision isn’t necessarily being double-minded. I’ve had to sweat out decisions in my life & many times I felt I was just holding on by my fingertips, trusting I was making the right move.

But I don’t believe indecisiveness is what James is referring to here. Inattention, wandering minds even going to sleep when we should be praying are not what James is talking about when he speaks of double-mindedness.

Was Paul being double-minded when he said,--For the good that I will to do I do not; but the evil I will not do that I do?” Romans 7:19. I don’t think so at all. This struggle that goes on in all of us isn’t double-mindedness. Right in the middle of Paul’s confession of weakness & vacillation he states, ---For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. -- Vr.22.

Until the day when we are totally composed of spirit, we can expect a spiritual tug-of-war to go on perpetually. The spiritual struggle going on in all of us if we’re honest enough to admit it, between the spiritual & carnal natures isn’t double-mindedness.

Double-mindedness happens when we know what God’s standards are yet we perpetually & intentionally harbor a state of willful, known sin choosing to conceal it, repress it, or ignore it. In other words; when we choose to be hypocrites. Double-mindedness depends on knowledge of God’s law or standards & a willful decision to reject it.

The troubled father in Mark 9:24, who said— Lord I believe, help my unbelief—might be accused of being double-minded but he isn’t. He’s not of two opinions but rather he wants to believe & asks God for help. God has no trouble with honest inquirers, it’s those who make a profession of faith they don’t possess, or make up their own standards of righteousness He has a problem with.

It’s analogous of the election of 2000 when the Florida Supreme Court handed down a decision & the U.S Supreme Court rebuked them for ignoring the real federal & state laws & statutes & willfully making up its own.

I once counseled a lady who made great claims of spirituality. As happens many times in counseling situations I became aware that she already knew what she was going to do. What she wanted was for me to “rubber-stamp” her decision. As she told me her problem & the way she was going to handle it, God was showing me a whole chapter in the New Testament that spoke to her situation. Quite frankly she was going in a diametrically opposite direction than the bible in the matter.

I opened my bible & started showing her as kindly as possible what it said about her situation. In a few minutes she stood up rebelliously & said, “Well, bible or no bible, this is the way I’m going to do it.”

What I’ve learned is when someone tries to embrace God’s Word with a carnal mind, it plunges them into a spiritual tailspin. And because –The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be…. It’s easier for them to just reject the teaching that sends them into a dither.

Old Testament Saul was double-minded when God told him to destroy the Amalekites totally but he only completed about 80% of the job. [1 Samuel 15.] When confronted with his compromise he had nothing but a pocket full of excuses which were going to serve as defense mechanisms for his double-mindedness. If he’d put the sin out of his heart as soon as he found it he wouldn’t have ended up in such confusion which led him to suicide on Mount Gilboa a short time later.

Make a decision! This is the message Elijah delivered to the people of Israel on top of Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18. His question to them was….How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.-vr.21.

Elijah was telling the people its time to make a decision. They’d been sitting on the fence too long. He said … “If you think Baal is your true god, if you think he can answer your prayers & is worthy of your worship then by all means, serve him, but do something.”

The sad part of the story is the last phrase of that verse….And the people answered him not a word.

In Luke 9:62 Jesus said, ---- no man having put his hand to the plough & looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.

To put ones hand to the plough signifies that a person is undertaking a business of some sort & to be successful he must always keep his eyes focused on the goal ahead. He has to be determined to finish what he started.

Psalm 78:9 says—The children of Ephraim being armed & carrying bows turned back in the day of battle.

Ephraim was one of the largest tribes of Israel. They were fully armed yet they never made it to war. The answer to this is found in Psalm 78:10…They kept not the covenant of God, & refused to walk in His law. These people just never could make up their minds to follow God.

Luke 17:32 says---Remember Lot’s wife.

She’s a classic example of double-mindedness. She was caught between two loves; God & Sodom. She wanted the best of both worlds. Even though the angel warned her to be in haste, don’t look back, don’t delay, escape quickly; she looked back longingly because a part of her was still in Sodom. She didn’t want to leave it all behind. She wanted to take some of Sodom so God made her a monument of His displeasure.

In 2 Timothy 4:10 Paul writes….For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world… Demas was a friend & fellow laborer of Paul’s in his first imprisonment but rather than face possible martyrdom he departed to a place of safety.

Listen to Acts 7:38—41, speaking of The Children of Israel in the wilderness…who received the lively oracles to give unto us. To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust Him from them & in their hearts turned back into Egypt, saying unto Aaron, Make us Gods to go before us for as this Moses which brought us out of Egypt we wot not what is become of him. And they made a calf in those days & offered sacrifice unto the idol & rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

Even though God had delivered the children of Israel from the iron furnace of Egypt, yet in their hearts they turned back to the place of bondage & idolatry.

2 Peter 2:20 says…. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, they are entangled again therein, & overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

So what is the answer to double-mindedness?

In chapter 4:6-10 James tells us the remedy;

But he giveth more grace wherefore he saith; God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore unto God. Resist the devil & he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God & He’ll draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands ye sinners purify your hearts ye double-minded…..Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord & he shall lift you up.

You may have heard the story of the man who owned a wonderful luxury car, a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud. One of the best British cars ever made. This man was touring in a remote part of France when a rear half-shaft broke. Apparently that’s a part of the car for those like me who aren’t technically minded.

The local garage couldn’t fix it so the owner called the Rolls Royce factory & explained the situation. They agreed to fly a mechanic out to fix the problem. The mechanic came & brought the parts & fixed the car & put the man back on the road. My, the perks the wealthy enjoy!

When the man arrived back in England, he expected to find a huge bill waiting for him. After waiting for some time the man wrote the factory about it. Soon he received a letter from Rolls Royce which read;

“Dear sir; thank you for your enquiry concerning an invoice for the replacement of a rear half-shaft of a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud. After searching our records carefully we can assure you that there is absolutely no record of a half-shaft ever having been broken on a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud.”

This is what our great beneficent God does for us when we repent; He keeps no record of sin. All our sins & brokenness are covered & paid for.

James ends his letter at the foot of the cross which is where we need to return if we’re double-minded. He doesn’t want us to be the kind of person of spurious faith, saying one thing & doing another. He makes it clear that if we’re wandering from the truth we’re wandering toward death.

James says we need each others help to stay on the right track in order that we don’t wander off. If we see someone we know wandering we should bring them back. We can’t save them but we can point them to the cross which is the only place we can be forgiven for our double-mindedness & failures.

It’s there that God --covers a multitude of sins.

Blessings in Christ,

John