James 1:5-8 BSB

“5Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

This is one of those passages of Scripture where you can’t read just one sentence or one verse, and stop there. For the promise given to us who believe in Jesus Christ, in verse 5, it has a condition attached to it given to us in verses 6-8. So we need to read verses 5-8 to get the whole picture.

Seeking God’s Wisdom

So, as those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, we are to be getting our wisdom from God, and not from the world; and from the Spirit of God, and not just from human flesh. We are to be seeking the counsel of God with regard to who we are to become, and what we are to do with our lives, and where we should live, and who we should marry, and what gathering of the church (the biblical body of believers in Jesus Christ) with whom we should find fellowship and mutual encouragement in our walks of faith in Christ.

If any are finding themselves “struggling” with sin, which usually means they are living in sinful addiction, and they sincerely want to find the way out from underneath that captivity to any sinful practice, they should pray to God for the wisdom to know what his word teaches on this subject, and what God expects of those who profess his name. But they must pray sincerely, truly desiring to know and to follow “the way out.” And when they have been shown the right way, then they must trust and obey God for deliverance.

Rejecting God’s Wisdom

Sadly, many claim they want the wisdom of God in their situation, that they desire to be free from their addiction to sin, and on a surface evaluation it looks like they could be heading in the right direction. But oftentimes, and not in all cases, many say they want to be free but then they don’t put God’s wisdom into action in their lives, but they still do it their way, which is not God’s way. And that is what this is talking about. Therefore they are double-minded, unstable in all their ways, still heading the same old direction.

Now, this is not the only area of our lives where this can be applied. This can cover any area of our lives where we lack wisdom and we need the counsel of God, and so we ask God for wisdom, but then we don’t take his counsel, and we still go it our own way, instead. But this isn’t about someone who might one time ask God for wisdom and then not follow his counsel. Look how the person here is described as a person who is double-minded in character, who is unstable in ALL HIS WAYS. This speaks of addiction.

An Illustration

When I was a child, and I played on a playground, we had something called a see-saw or a teeter-totter. It was a long board balanced on something in the middle, and one child would sit on the right end and the other child would sit on the left end, and they would go up and down, back and forth. And that is the picture I get in my mind of someone who is double-minded, who is on both ends of this teeter-totter going up and down and back and forth in opinion, so unstable in all their ways, not remaining in one place.

And to teeter is to waver, to totter, to wobble, to sway back and forth. So this is not someone who once or twice has asked the Lord for counsel and then did not take his counsel, but this is someone who habitually claims to be seeking the counsel of God but then goes their own way anyway. And double-minded means to vacillate in opinion or purpose, but it also means to be two-spirited, i.e. “two souled,” i.e. a person split in half mentally. And someone like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

The Conclusion

So, what does that look like with regard to our faith in Christ? We cannot be half on one side and half on the other. That doesn’t mean we have to be absolutely perfect in every respect. But we can’t walk in sin and in obedience to God at the same time. Either our lives are committed to Christ, or they are not. Either sin is our practice or obedience to God is our practice. Either we are living to please the flesh or we are living to please God. The two don’t mix. If we are double-minded we will not have eternal life with God.

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship You

The Double-Minded Person
An Original Work / July 10, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love