Free From Mixture

 

James 1:6 says this, “But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.”

And then in verse 8 it says this, “Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.”

And I would say it to a zoom class I was teaching, “Read until you hear His voice.”

And I had.
Right here.
In the repeated patterns.  

I see it twice there tucked ever so neatly among the combination of words.

Divided.

A person divided.
Loyalty divided.

And it’s interesting that this word - only found in the book of James - here and again in chapter 4, doesn’t just mean a mind that is divided… it means the “soul” of the man is divided.

It’s a picture image that I conjure up in my mind of a person standing with one foot in the world, and one foot in the Kingdom.

And scripture tells us that it’s dishonoring to God, discrediting to the “Christian”, and damaging to their salvation.  

In fact, it’s James that says, “friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God.”  James even realized it’s importance, and places emphasis on it by saying, “I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.”  (all this in one verse, 4:4)

One of the commentaries I was reading concerning this bit of text said this, “The ground of this instability is the diversity fo those principles upon which he acts; his heart is not pure and free from mixture, and therefore his actions are thus repugnant.”

It was the word, “mixture”, that got to me.
Because I had been reading it in several others places, including Number 11, which talks about the Israelites being among the “mixed multitudes” in their journey through the wilderness into their promised land.  (verse 4)

These “mixed multitudes” were the remnant of Egyptians that traveled with them in part of their escape from captivity.  And they served no good purpose to the people of God.

In fact, it was their evil influence that led God’s people down a slippery slope of complaining about what they described as their frustrating circumstances since leaving Egypt.

They were negatively impacted by their grumbling companions.

And so an investigative look into the word "mixture" reveals this = "any combination or blend of different elements, kinds, qualities.  Two or more substances that aren’t chemically united and exist in no fixed proportion to each other.  Different ingredients blended without order."

And even further, in chemistry, the word “mixture” means this = "where two or more substances unite by chemical attraction and losing their distinct properties, they form a compound differing in properties from either ingredients."

WOW.

So could it be that by mixing with the wrong crowd, I could risk losing my unique and God-given property altogether?  Could it be that mixture with bad elements could permanently damage my purity, and render me, as verse 7 in James 1 tells us, “such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.”

It is the most frightening prospect we could meet with.

And so I beg God to help me stay undivided in my pursuit of Him.
To maintain purity as best I can.
And to refrain from the mixture that serves to divide me further from my first love.