Ministry of Grace Church

he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Truth to Learn

We must not get distracted from focusing on God and on Him alone.

Behind the Words

“Double-minded” is translated from dipsuchos which is a compound word made up of dis meaning “twice” and a form of psuche which means “soul” or “mind.” This is a term that was used among the Jews to express the man who attempted to worship God and yet retained the love of self and things. One of their teachers, Rabbi Tanchum, said:

Behold, the Scripture exhorts the Israelites, and tells them when they pray that they should not have two hearts, one for the holy blessed God, and one for something else.

The word translated “unstable” is from the Greek akatastatos which is a double compound word made up of a, meaning “not,” kata, meaning “down,” and a form of histēmi, meaning “to stand, set, or settle.” Hence, this word means “one who is not settled down” or “one who is not stable.”

Meaning Explained

James was just talking about the type of person who prays with a doubting faith. He is now making the point that this kind of person is not just inconsistent in faith regarding his prayers, he is inconsistent in everything he does.

In the gospel account of Jesus’ life and ministry, He was once challenged by one of the Pharisees, a teacher of the law, who asked,

Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? (Matthew 22:36)

The next verse says,

Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37)

Jesus’ teaching was that the most important thing a person can do is to love God with all his heart, soul, and mind. If we are able to do that, then we can’t also be double minded. If our love of self or things of the world take on equal or greater importance than our love for God, then we are double minded. These things have become idols to us and we must turn away from them. As Christians we cannot allow our focus to be distracted. We must always walk facing Him. We must turn over all of our thoughts and desires to Him. Only then will we be stable and have the peace that passes all understanding, a peace that the world doesn’t know.

Application

In the middle of life’s challenges it’s easy to become focused on ourselves and our problems. What God wants, however, is for us to focus on Him and His greatness. We can’t focus on God every Sunday morning and focus on ourselves for the rest of the week and expect to see God working in our lives. Our focus must be on Him even when we don’t feel like it.

Where is your focus today? Is it solely and completely on God, or is something else distracting you?