#Clean hands pure heart verse full#

In his book, purity is understood as right willing. The Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard wrote a book called Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing, in which he explores the biblical view of faith as a matter of passion for God’s will rather than perfect dogmatic adherence. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart” (Matthew 22:37).

#Clean hands pure heart verse full#

Purity of heart, on the other hand, is to will one thing, namely, full and total allegiance to God. So the double-minded man has a heart divided between the world and God, like a husband with a wife and a girlfriend. The opposite, impurity or double-heartedness, is the same as idolatry: “Unfaithful creatures! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4).ĭouble-minded literally means two-souled or two-spirited, wishy-washy, uncommitted, divided, doubting, wavering, uncertain, and especially a division of interest between the world and God. As we draw nearer to God, our hands are further cleansed and our hearts more deeply purified. Oddly enough, the Bible says the cure for the hot mess of instability and sin is the purity of an undivided commitment to God. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind” (James 4:8). “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. This whole-heartedness leads inexorably away from instability and doubt, unto rest and stability when its object is God. In a sense, it’s a contradiction of multitasking. Purity is so powerful because it is focused single-mindedness. But biblical purity is better described as spiritual single-mindedness, whole-heartedness. Often we understand purity as cleanness, especially sexual or spiritual cleanness. In the Bible, this double-mindedness is called impurity. He doubts because he knows himself to be disloyal and unreliable, and he projects that unreliability on God and others. He is a person of un-faith, and volatile: “He who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6).

The self-deceit causes insecurity and doubt, as he hedges his bets and gives himself first to one thing and then the other, but never fully to either. So one who is two-hearted is in every sense a self-deceiver. Double-minded means unreality or untruth, not necessarily in the sense of deceiving others but in the deeper sense of deceiving oneself. In the Scriptures, we’re told double-mindedness causes instability. “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8). What causes this instability, this inability to find and live in lasting peace? Strained relationships, debt, busy schedules, insatiable children, and all other forms of dis-ease can really weigh on us.

At some point we just want off the roller coaster of instability. Living with the chaos and anxiety of habitual sin, our own or another’s, is tough. We looked at each other sideways, wondering, “What in the world is happening? Is it us? Is it them?” The Mess We’re In Baseless accusations, foaming rage, vociferous cursing, unjustifiable suspicion, and alternative realities left us all reeling in confusion. So the theatrics flanking our extended family’s last get-together sent warning bells ringing in my head as soon as the second emotional tornado hit. I know to pay attention to what happens next and be in prayer about the people and circumstances around me, because they are being used by the Holy Spirit to teach me something.

I’m no prophet, but I have learned through discerning my patterns, when I see or hear something two or more times I can be sure God is at work somehow. An eerily similar craziness boiled over from two different, unrelated people in two different, unrelated occasions separated by several weeks. We recently endured an unmatched gauntlet for head-exploding drama and heart-pounding anxiety on both sides of our family. But I know from experience those happy reunions also harbor potential for emotional eruptions.

Whether you live several states or simply blocks away, family BBQ’s, holidays, and gatherings are times to reconnect with those you love.