Double-Mindedness

"And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word" (I Kings 18:21).

The children of Israel had followed King Ahab into whole-hearted idolatrous worship of Baal. They had stood by while a death warrant had been issued and carried out on the prophets of God. Now, Elijah's piercing question destroys the numbing effect of the people's apathy and forces them to face their own sin. Up to that point they had been double minded&md;not willing to choose between God and Baal.

"Double mindedness" speaks of the man or woman who tries to split his or her energies between the world's system and the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus says in Luke 11:23: "He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth." James urges us to not vacillate between two allegiances. "Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4).

On the other hand, we are called to have a single eye (Matthew 6:22) and to serve with singleness of heart (Ephesians 6:5; Colossians 3:22). "The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light" (Luke 11:34). If our eye is single, fixed on the Savior, our body will be full of the light that "shineth in a dark place" (II Peter 1:19), pointing the way to the Cross. "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you….multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness; Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness [singleness of heart], which causeth through us thanksgiving to God" (II Corinthians 9:8, 10, 11). In God's economy, the single-hearted life yields much fruit; the double mind yields nothing of value for eternity. CJH