Come
near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you
sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James
4:8 NIV
Have
you ever wondered why you don't feel close to God? I have. Any time I
felt that way, I have discovered that it was me keeping the distance.
James
touches on this subject in James 4:8 “come near to God and He will
come near to you”. He is basically saying, if you want to have a
good relationship with God, work on your side of the relationship. He
says this because God is near to us, if we are near to Him. Its never
God that backs off in the relationship, its always us. It is our
sinful state that needs to be worked on if we want to feel nearer to
God again.
Look
at what James says in the last half of the verse, “wash
your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded”.
He
says that there are two things we need to take care of, to fix two
problems that we have. We need to wash our hands because we are
sinners. In other words we need to repent of our sins, ask
forgiveness and wash our hands of the filth we have allowed ourselves
to get into. We need to purify our hearts because we are
double-minded. We also need to clean up our hearts, and get rid of
whatever is sitting in God's place in our hearts. He says its because
we are double-minded. We are double-minded because we don't have a
singleminded focus on our relationship with God. We are trying to
serve two masters, the world and God. We can't do both. Because we,
“will
be devoted to the one
and
despise the other”. Luke 16:13
So
as always it takes a conscious effort on our part to to feel nearer
to God. Today if you are feeling like distance has come between you
and God, do what it takes to close that gap.“Wash
your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded”
and
come near to God.
©
2012 Leo J. Woodman
