James 4:8 (NIV): Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
God is under attack. Really. Ever since creation He has been questioned. Mankind wants to rationalize that God isn’t needed. Yet, He is still here.
I believe in Absolute Truth. I find that Truth in the God of the Bible. I have learned that God is outside of His creation. He is everywhere present. I know that He is with me.
The verse from James tells me that God will come near to me. But, there are certain things that God wants from me. The verse shares those things.
God wants me to come near to Him. That’s right. Another way of thinking about this is that God wants me to want Him. God could have created human beings to be robots that automatically come to Him. He didn’t do that. He wants me to want Him.
Part of me wanting Him is that I should understand that I am a sinner and need to wash my hands and purify my heart. In other words, I need to take sin very seriously. I cannot be comfortable with sin remaining in my life. I need to intentionally every day submit to Him by doing my part.
By doing my part I avoid being double-minded. I avoid following my desires and instead follow God.
Prayer: Lord God, I want Your nearness. I want to come near to You. I want to take sin seriously and start living in Your eternal presence now.
