A Divided Man

"If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand." Mark 3:24-25

"...for the one who doubts is like the surf  of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.  For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." James 1:6-8

The passage from Mark was made more famous by Abraham Lincoln as he counseled the states against secession.  But it also remains truth today. And this truth is applicable to a nation, a kingdom, a house, a family, and an individual.  So many of us Christian Americans today are divided.  We worship on sunday and live our own lives Monday through Saturday.  We serve two masters.  We believe in parts of evolution and yet say that we believe in God's Word.  We believe that God loves us and yet we are depressed and failing in areas of our lives. 

Psalm 119:160 pretty much sums it all up, "The sum of Your word is truth, and every one of your righteous ordinances is everlasting."  We do not get to pick and choose what we are going to believe.  God's word is either all true or it is all wrong.  Demons believe and yet they shudder at the truth and in the presence of God. (James 2:19)  Just believing in God or believing things about God is not enough.  We have to believe to the depth that we will order our life upon His precepts and His truths.

We want victory.  We want joy.  We want peace.  We want love.  But we are not willing to pay the price of being single-minded.  A mind set on God is victorious, joyful, peaceful, and loving.  Joy, in the Bible is always linked to being in the presence of God.  When was the last time that you just sat at God's feet.  Not petitioning for things, but just sitting, listening, loving your God?  If you truly want your mind to be transformed, then you have to put in the work of relationship - read the word, study the word, talk to God, see things from His perspective.  Know God!!!

You can stand on God's word.  But you have to instructed in God's knowledge in order to act with wisdom.  Instruction comes from God first, and proven Godly, Biblical teaching second.  I spoke to a woman this past weekend that was really at the end of her rope.  She was not in a Bible believing congregation.  She was doing church at home with the kids while her husband attended a church full of heresy.  God's word says that we need each other.  She needs other believers, her husband needs Godly believers, her children need Godly believers in their lives.  They need Christian community.  Community is one thing that our culture has taken from us.  We live with 8 foot fences between our homes.  We park in the garage and go straight into our houses.  We work in our own offices and we go to large churches.  My first advice to this woman was to get involved in a Community Bible Study group or Bible Study Fellowship because she needs other Christian women.  Then we spoke and reminded each other of Biblical principles that she admitted to knowing but not doing.  Taking the next right step is often the path back to God.

Hint of the Day: Don't just read a devotional about the Bible.  Read the Bible.  Ask the Holy Spirit to show you God's truths.  Have your kids take a piece of thread and break it.  Then put several pieces of thread together.  These should be hard or impossible to break.  Teach them that as a family and as Christians (the church) and as friends that standing alone one can be broken.  But with many strands together each one is made strong and unbreakable. Find a friend.  Be in fellowship with other believers and be in God's Word many times a day!