6 No man can serve two masters. He cannot give his heart to two services at the same time. He cannot follow two callings successfully.

– Matthew 6:24 (People's New Testament)

Some Sticky Stuff

In my prayer time this morning, my conversation with God kept turning to situations of being double-minded.  I kept asking forgiveness for doing the things that I know I shouldn't be doing.  The list is fairly long and while there really isn't anything major (in my eyes anyway), the usual traps for me seem to always present themselves.  Things like, anger - traffic is the worst;  lust of the eyes - images are everywhere;  pride - I can do all things...because, well . . . I can do all things;  hate - some people just tend to bring it out in me;  greed - I want, I want, I want, and contempt - sometimes I just can't help it.

God knows all of my flaws (and now you know some of them too), but I know that He is working on these things with me.  I just wish that my pursuit of holiness wasn't riddled with re-occurring sin.  I know that as long as I'm alive I will sin - I mean, I'm under no illusions here but it would be nice to be able to wake up and know that the rest of my day will be holy - that I would be worthy to be called His child.  One day it will happen, but until then . . . 

So I was talking with God (back to my morning prayer time), and these images or descriptions of being double-minded kept popping up.  Two-faced, wishy-washy, straddling the fence, night and day, hot and cold, up and down, in and out, etc., etc.  I even had to stop and laugh at myself as I imagined God rolling His eyes as I went on-and-on.  But then this image of double-sided tape popped into my mind and I think that for my life anyway, it sums up being double-minded really well.

Double-sided tape is one of the greatest inventions there is (in my humble opinion).  For the Graphic Designer (me), it can be an invaluable tool for creating mock-ups of things like my package designs.  I've learned all the tricks for using it effectively but it as also ruined quite a few mock-ups.  The problems is that everything sticks to it!  "No Duh" you say?  "That's what it was invented for" you say?  Well I know this (thank you very much), but it takes practice using it so that only the things you want to stick get stuck. The problem with double-sided tape is that if you aren't very careful, you will end up letting something unintended touch one of the sides which will end up ruining your entire project.

No one wants sin sticking to them, but by being double-minded, the tug-o-war that will be played out in your life can cause some nasty consequences.  It isn't so much the sin itself (we all sin), but it's the mindset that you can continue to sin and that you have the sin under control and convincing yourself that you can clean up your act any time you want that will ruin your life.  It's allowing the sin to become part of who you are because you are double-minded that will drive you from God's presence.

Examine your life today.  Ask God to reveal any tendencies of double-mindedness in you.  He will help you to get off the fence - be light and not dark - be up and not down - be His and not the world's.  Life will be less messy and your relationship with Him will be so much more fulfilling and blessed.

Prayer

Lord thank You for bringing to my mind all of the ways in which I allow sin to stick to my life.  I repent of being double-minded and I ask that Your Holy Spirit cleans me of that mindset and help me to remain focussed on You as I go through my day.  I know that my life will be more fruitful by keeping my eyes firmly fixed on You and seeking Your will for my life.  I praise You and I devote this day to You.

Have a blessed day my Brothers!