Living in a double-minded world
By Paul Bawden
This is an easy world to live in. One can believe one way and live another. A person can say he believes one way and when questioned, he answers differently than what he previously believed.
The Good Book picked up on this and said that a double-minded person is unstable in all of his ways (James 1:8). Unstable means to be inconsistent, vacillating, to be and act one way today and be and act some other way tomorrow. As James penned, the double-minded person “is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6).
So, let’s ask ourselves. Am I living a double-minded life? Am I one kind of a person in private, and another kind of person in public? If in a family relationship, am I different at home and in public. If I go to a place to worship, am I different there than in my private or family life?
If in a place of leadership in the public domain, am I the same in private and in public? Since this is an election year, are those running for office telling us one thing and believing another? Are those running for office telling us things that we would like to hear in order to get elected to office, but don’t really believe what they are telling us? And when they get into office, will they go back to what they initially believed? If such is the case, what kind of leadership will that person engage in?
What’s the solution to helping us not to fall into double-mindedness at times in our individual and family lives, as well as in the lives of those serving in the public arena?
Two words – truth and faith. In fact, this is what James told those who were experiencing double-mindedness. Instead of taking the biblical God at His word (Truth) and acting on it, the people had floated into doubting who the biblical God was and what He could do for them (James 1:5-8). They had become double-minded – unstable, vacillating in their thinking.
I realize we live in an eclectic culture, but unless there is true truth in our society, we are cast out on the sea of uncertainty with no way to return. That’s why Jesus Christ demonstrated that He was the living truth by dying on the cross, being buried, and conquering the grave bodily. Today, those who place their faith in Him, will know Him, the Truth personally, and be free in Him to live out His truth in their lives, which is true freedom (John 8:32).
What does Christ’s truth look like in the life of the believer in Him? Philippians 4:8 puts it this way. It’s that which is “true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, commendable, and that which is excellent and worthy of praise.” With this truth active in the life of a follower of Christ, any kind of double-mindedness will become less and less.
And what would private and public lives be like, and politicians and their rhetoric be like if such truth would be discovered personally through faith in Christ? Double-mindedness would be replaced by single-mindedness, focusing on the Lord’s truth and living for Him, which would bring glory to God in time and eternity.
Paul Bawden is married and served in the pastoral ministry for 45 years, retiring in 2011. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. in Speech and attended Dallas Theological Seminary, receiving a Master of Theology. He has taken counseling courses at Trinity Evangelical Seminary in Deerfield, Illinois. Paul is a lifetime member of the Evangelical Free Church of America, as well as being a member of Interim Pastor Ministries (IPM), which serves churches during their time of transition in searching for a new pastor. He writes for Union Gospel Press, as well as being a volunteer writer for GotQuestions.org. Paul likes to write, read, bike, and work in the yard. The Bawdens have had the privilege to travel to Mexico and Romania on mission trips and visited various countries in Europe.