"Come near to God and he will come
near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and
purify your hearts, you double-minded." + James 4:8
Have you ever been traveling in a car, listening to
the radio, only to have the program start to break
up? You strain to hear what's on and you truly want
to hear it, but the further you travel away and the
more distant you are from the station, the harder it
is to receive what is being sent to you. It is only
when you turn around and come back home and near to
the source that you will be able to hear and
perceive clearly.
Maybe you have been straining to hear from God
lately and you need a word from Him? You pray and
pray with all your might, but all you seemingly can
hear is static or silence. Could it be that the
reason why you can't hear so clearly is that you
have been traveling farther from Him? It's not that
you have lost your faith in God, and it's not that
you don't pray, but in your heart and in your
actions, you have been traveling a road that is
taking you away from God rather than nearer to Him?
If so, a u-turn is needed if you want to hear from
God.
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Today we tune into God's Word and
this is the broadcast: "Come near to God and he will
come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and
purify your hearts, you double-minded." The point is
simply that if we want to hear from God, we need to
change our direction. Dirty hands = dirty deeds. If
you have 'dirty hands', go to the Savior who gladly
washed the Disciples feet! Whatever sins we have
done by the deeds of our hands or whatever sins we
have walked in, Jesus is in the business of washing
away the filth of our life. Has your heart been far
from Him? Let Psalm 51:10 be your prayer, "Create in
me a clean heart O God, and renew a right spirit
within me". Heart problems require a heart doctor,
so call the Good Physician to fix you and don't be
your own doctor. And to be 'double-minded', is
wanting to go 2 different directions in our life.
You are either coming nearer to Him, or further
away. Turn around and come back to Him in your
deeds, in your heart, and in your thinking, and your
reception of what His divine will is for you will
become more and more clear. God loves us and the
cross and sufferings of Jesus is the proof of this!
He will come near to you. Turn and come near to Him!
[Rev. Daniel McQuality, Grace Lutheran Church] |
