You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God…Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  (James 4:5, 7-8)

On Day 3 of the 21 Days of At.One.Ment Fast, we look at another form of sin that can come between us and our Father in heaven.

The apostle James calls it being “double-minded.” It is straddling the fence between the world and God.

It is the state of mind that manifests itself in lukewarmness—neither hot nor cold, unwilling to take a stand one way or another. As Jesus said to the church in Laodicea, “I will vomit you out of My mouth.” (Revelation 3:16)

James minces no words either when he describes being double-minded as being diametrically opposed to God. Do you really want to be known as “an enemy of God?”

Clearly, when you are in the enemy camp, you are not experiencing at.one.ment with God, are you?

What are some ways in which we can be double-minded?

We could be following the ways of the world when it comes to ethical or moral matters while following Jesus simultaneously.

So, for example we could be…

• engaging in questionable accounting procedures or other business practices while claiming to have the mind of Christ,
• compromising the truth for a relativism that accepts all religions as being equally valid paths to God while continuing to profess Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life,
• engaging in sexual relationships outside the covenant of marriage and thinking there is nothing wrong about it despite the high value Jesus places on the marriage bond.

Get the picture?

One of the greatest temptations that the people of God have faced through the ages is the tendency to worship other idols concurrently and not realizing that it is sinful.

It happened in the days of the prophet Elijah, when people sacrificed to Baal with the same relative ease as they worshipped the God of Israel. Things finally got to the point where Elijah offers this ultimatum: “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” (I Kings 18:21)

The apostle Paul has to address a similar situation in Corinth where it would appear that followers of Jesus were still eating food offered to the idols (chapter 8) and having sex with temple prostitutes (ch. 6).

God does not tolerate double-mindedness.

Today, would you ask Holy Spirit to show ways in which you too might be an enemy of God, practising double-mindedness? When He does, would you then wash your hands off that practice and ask Him to purify your heart, as James recommends?

When you do, you will be removing one more way in which your sin can stand before you and prevent you from experiencing at.one.ment with God.