Continuing on in James 4:7-10
The middle part of verse eight says:
Clean your hands, the channels of your power; you who miss the mark and do not share in the prize.
Clean your hands – good hygiene aside, this type of deep cleanliness requires more than soap and water could accomplish. The word “clean” means more than free from literal dirt. It also means faultless, pure, uncontaminated, virtuous, and complete. What can clean this deeply? Titus 3:5 says: “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” This part of the verse is a call to be cleansed by the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus so that the work our hands set to do may be sanctified through His grace and mercy.
Now the last part of verse eight:
Make pure and holy your thoughts and feelings, you who are two-spirited, vacillating in opinion and purpose.
We are told to make pure and holy our thoughts and feelings. How do we do that? On our own, we are neither pure nor holy. But Jesus, our Redeemer and Lord, is our righteousness. It is His pureness and holiness that we take on as we daily commit our thoughts and emotions to God.
What does it mean to be a two-spirited person who goes back and forth in their opinion and purpose? Two spirits?
Mine, which was formed by the world and my flesh, and God’s, which is Spirit and Truth. For a long time, I tried to live a life divided between two worlds. The result was a back and forth up and down life that never rested on the level path of God. The idea of having two spirits instead of one means that there isn’t room for the fullness of either one, especially for the things of God. Intimacy with God? A sanctified inner man? For the two-spirited person this is an impossibility. And whatever one you “feed” will be the stronger.
Ephesians 4: 14 tells of the result of having Christ dwell in our inner man: “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, blown here and there by every wind of teaching, and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.”
Pure and holy feelings and thoughts are a by-product of a one-spirited person.
Cleaning your hands, making pure and holy your thoughts and feelings – all necessary for not only inner peace, but outer peace as well. At the beginning of Chapter Four, James tells us that the battles between us come from the battles that rage within us. All aspects of who we are and what we do is affected by our relationship or lack of relationship with God. Just as our natural man is affected by the food and drink we put into it, our spiritual man is likewise affected by what it is fed with.
Father-God, how much time do I spend “feeding” your Spirit within me? How often do I come to You to be nourished? Am I starving?
Check out: John 6:57
Clean your hands – good hygiene aside, this type of deep cleanliness requires more than soap and water could accomplish. The word “clean” means more than free from literal dirt. It also means faultless, pure, uncontaminated, virtuous, and complete. What can clean this deeply? Titus 3:5 says: “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” This part of the verse is a call to be cleansed by the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus so that the work our hands set to do may be sanctified through His grace and mercy.
Now the last part of verse eight:
Make pure and holy your thoughts and feelings, you who are two-spirited, vacillating in opinion and purpose.
We are told to make pure and holy our thoughts and feelings. How do we do that? On our own, we are neither pure nor holy. But Jesus, our Redeemer and Lord, is our righteousness. It is His pureness and holiness that we take on as we daily commit our thoughts and emotions to God.
What does it mean to be a two-spirited person who goes back and forth in their opinion and purpose? Two spirits?
Mine, which was formed by the world and my flesh, and God’s, which is Spirit and Truth. For a long time, I tried to live a life divided between two worlds. The result was a back and forth up and down life that never rested on the level path of God. The idea of having two spirits instead of one means that there isn’t room for the fullness of either one, especially for the things of God. Intimacy with God? A sanctified inner man? For the two-spirited person this is an impossibility. And whatever one you “feed” will be the stronger.
Ephesians 4: 14 tells of the result of having Christ dwell in our inner man: “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, blown here and there by every wind of teaching, and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.”
Pure and holy feelings and thoughts are a by-product of a one-spirited person.
Cleaning your hands, making pure and holy your thoughts and feelings – all necessary for not only inner peace, but outer peace as well. At the beginning of Chapter Four, James tells us that the battles between us come from the battles that rage within us. All aspects of who we are and what we do is affected by our relationship or lack of relationship with God. Just as our natural man is affected by the food and drink we put into it, our spiritual man is likewise affected by what it is fed with.
Father-God, how much time do I spend “feeding” your Spirit within me? How often do I come to You to be nourished? Am I starving?
Check out: John 6:57
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