Key scripture – “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. (James 1:8, KJV).

Pastor James McDonald asks us, have you ever found yourself wanting one thing but doing something totally opposite? For example, after spending an hour at the gym, you decide to eat a bowl of ice cream. Chances are, you’ll never reach your goal on the bathroom scale that way. Or you want a good marriage, but you want to keep being selfish. Or you make impulsive purchases at the mall, but you still want financial growth and security. Or you’re not ready to let go of your private addiction, but you want a growing relationship with God. It doesn’t work that way. These things can’t co-exist, and it’s double-mindedness when you want them to.

Notice three things the Bible says about double-mindedness:

First, double-minded people are everywhere. There is double-mindedness in all of us. There are competing things we want that we try to make go together, like our pet sin and God’s righteousness, but it is impossible for those to coexist together so you have to begin to think differently about this.

You have to get off the fence and stop with the in-between. No more half-measures. You have to settle it once and for all. You cannot have all of God and keep your sin. So you need to ask yourself what do you really want, God or sin?

Second, double-mindedness creates instability. Is your family wondering which one of you, the nice one or the mean one, is coming home today? Is the extended family worried about how that uncle is going to act at the next family gathering? Are all the employees on edge anticipating what the office will be like when the boss arrives and what kind of mood the boss will be in?

Your emotions are unstable, and you know it. The people around you sure know it. You’re unpredictable. You might try to hide it in public, but people close to you see it and they never know what to expect from you. The bottom line is, you are unstable emotionally because you want two things that can’t coexist.

Third, double-mindedness affects everything. The guy who is double-minded about his marriage? It’s affecting his career. The woman who’s double-minded about her finances? It’s affecting her family. Every decision that is made that goes against the Word of God is a bad decision and it affects others.

Ending double-mindedness isn’t easy, but it’s pretty simple. You have to want to think differently, and you have to take action that reinforces your desire.

That word double‑minded literally means “two souls.” It is like a man trying to face both ways at the same time. He’s trying to live with one foot in the church and one in the world. He’s got just enough of the world in him that he can’t be happy in church, and he’s got just enough Christ in him he can’t be happy in the world. He is a spiritual schizophrenic. He is a two-soul man. We are to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and you can’t do that if you are double minded.

Is there anything in your life you love more than the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, then that thing—whatever or whoever it is—has become an idol in your life. Realizing that, ask God to show you what steps can you take today to remove it from the throne and put Christ back in His proper place in your life?

Are you ready to put an end to double-mindedness? Then you need to want what God wants. Seek His ways by reading His Word. Confess to God your desire for two things that cannot coexist, and put off the behavior that is keeping you from doing the thing that will make you more like Christ.

“For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.” (Romans 2:13).

Pray this – Our Precious Heavenly Father, I confess that I have not always wanted what You want. Thank You, Lord, for opening my eyes to my double-mindedness. I lay my double mindedness about this sin, which is ______, on Your altar and I leave it there. Give me wisdom and help me to think and act differently and to live in righteousness. I want to be a doer of the Word not just a hearer. By Your grace, help me to obey You and Your Word, and to do the things that reflect Your power and Your Righteousness in my life. I do not want to be an instrument of wickedness, therefore, I will not offer any part of myself to sin, but instead I will offer myself to God as one who has been brought from death to life; and offer every part of myself to Him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be my master, because I am not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:13-14). I give myself completely as a living sacrifice to God. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, Amen.