I love James. He doesn't coddle a brother on the wrong side of the facts.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all [men] liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man [is] unstable in all his ways.
James 1:5-8
I don't really have a thought here, but I more want to think about it out loud. A wave of the sea is driven by the wind. That's true. Sea waves are different from those waves that crash on the shore. This is not a wave trying to find a home on solid land. This is a calm sea whipped into a frenzy by invisible forces.
I would like to think James is going to blame the devil for the fight inside me, but he isn't. James keeps on refering to the lusts that war in our members. It is those lusts that seek to whip my soul when I am seeking wisdom.
So, the double minded man is the one who wants wisdom, but who also wants to satisfy his lusts.
Interestingly, it is not enough to simply control my lusts. I have walked the road of stoicism for stretches of my life, but it was not sufficient. James says as much. When your mind is single, it only opens the way for God to grant liberally. We still cannot get wisdom except from God. Praise the Lord.
One of the things I want to learn as my little group goes through James is how to become single minded in the moment of crisis. James will blast us for allowing lust to drive us, but what will he say about how to quell that lusting influence.
OK. Good stuff.
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