Three Steps – Number Three
“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 4:8
Three Steps – Number Three
Purify – James aims his command for purification at a particular kind of person – the double-minded. Why does he pick out this aspect of sinful behavior? Once we see the collateral meaning of the Greek word for “purify”, we will know the answer. And then we will see the problem.
Hagnizo is the verb that means, “to purify or make clean”. James has already used another verb for “cleanse” (katharizo). But he has something more in mind than simply amplified repetition. When James chooses hagnizo, he captures another thought, one that reaches back into Old Testament theology. Hagnizo is a verb that means, “to consecrate for moral purity”. Cleaning up our deeds is not quite enough. James wants us to see that there is another problem that requires consecration. That problem is trying to live two different paths at the same time.
When we surrender to God’s verdict on our lives, we agree with God that His view of the world is the right view, the only view and the one that we must adopt. This is called “conversion”. It might be aptly called “moving house”. If we are going to follow Him, we will need to leave behind all the olds ways of doing things. We will have to consecrate ourselves to only one pattern for life; the pattern He endorses. If we try to live any other way, we will be double-minded, literally a person with unstable loyalties, a two-souled person. Spiros Zodhiates calls this kind of person someone “who wishes to maintain a religious confession and desires the presence of God in his life; [but] he loves the ways of the world and prefers to live according to its mores and ethics”.
Consecration means getting rid of the things that interfere with God’s way and embracing the things that promote God’s way. Consecration means focus! James and Paul agree. The patterns of this world are opposed to God’s perspective. If you try to live with a foot in both camps, you are truly schizophrenic. Even in our world we call these people insane. What do you think God calls them?
If consecration is so important, then it is essential that we identify the patterns that lead to spiritual schizophrenia. Try this one: The world from God’s point of view is a world where the significance of my life is never determined by me and my efforts but only by God’s use of who I am for His purposes. In all likelihood, my significance will never be known in my lifetime. The more that I attempt to create my own legacy powered by my own efforts and vision, the less I allow God to shape what He wants of me. God’s desire is for submission and service, not enhancement and advancement.
