The Way of Self-Examination (cont'd)by Bishop W. Reynold Storr September 22, 2004 A Double Mind A double-minded Christian is one who cannot make decisions with finality. Every decision he makes he reconsiders, every step he takes he reverses.
When a man of trust yields to thoughts of doubt, or through fear seeks to evade any vital issue God sets before him, he becomes a double-minded man----and unstable. (James 1:8) “A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. He flees and a plague of hesitancy infects his mind. As this sickness grows, more symptoms manifest: hesitation, uncertainty, timidity. Eventually every decision is doubted and every move questioned, until the double-minded man is “unstable in all his ways.” The Amplified Bible states, (James 1:8.) “[For being as he is] a man of two minds----hesitating, dubious, irresolute----he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything (he thinks, feels, decides).” When this spiritual sickness reaches the point that we labor over the tiniest decisions of daily life-----whether to turn left or right at the intersection----it’s time to ask ourselves, (1Kings 8:21) “How long will you be between two opinions?” and to seek help which comes through the Spirit the minute we humbly retrace our thoughts in search of the first decision we failed to make. That’s where we allowed the Back-and-Forth Syndrome to begin, and that’s where we must terminate it.
A Running Mind Closely related to a double mind is a running mind. A running mind is one obsessed with thinking ahead…and consequently tormented by anxiety. It is far from the attitude of faith. When faith is strong, we do not demand to know the future. Trust holds our soul in inspired rest. Our Father who is providing for us today will provide for us tomorrow. (Matt 6:32)For your heavenly father knows that you have need of all these things .We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we know and trust the One who holds yesterday, today and eternity in His hands. But unchecked disobedience erodes this faith.
If we let sin rest in our minds, creeping anxiety enters and begins crawling its way to the forefront of our thoughts. Within a matter of moments, our minds are off and running. We feel driven to plan tomorrow before we have even lived today. In this state of mind, major mental storms easily erupt; we work ourselves into a panic over problems that are months, even years, away. So we make haste in our hearts. Not only is this condition a sign of unconfessed sin, it is sin.
Isaiah forbids believers to harbor a hasty spirit: “(Isa. 28:16)…he that believeth shall not make haste. Jesus commands us to allow no anxious thoughts. (Matt.6:34). “Take…no [anxious] thought for the morrow And the apostle Paul teaches us to worry about nothing: “Be |anxious| for nothing …” (Phil. 4:6,) and to pray about everything: “…but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God”.
Everywhere Scripture reveals there is only one thing to do with worry: Refuse it! Christians who obediently refuse to worry reap the blessing of the peace of God that passes all understanding. Those who worry reap the curse of the running mind. And a curse it is ---never do they rest, never are they free from pressure, never do they leave tomorrow in the hands of their compassionate and all-powerful Father.
A Confused Mind Confusion is the inability to distinguish between things and is highly dangerous in the natural as well as in the spiritual. A state of confusion always creates a state of emergency.
For example, when confusion breaks out in a control tower, air traffic controllers, sensing danger, move quickly to seek its cause and eliminate it. They know well that if confusion rules, even for a short time, a collision will likely occur. So it is with us.
A Christian’s mind is his control tower. Whenever confusion enters, a state of spiritual emergency exists. If we ignore the confusion, we are heading straight for a damaging spiritual collision. There is just a step between us and something evil: (James 3:16) “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work”. Like seasoned air traffic controllers, wise Christians heed the sign of confusion. They immediately examine themselves to find its cause. Confusion arises from one of several sources.
A confused mind may result from harboring envy or a spirit of strife, internal or verbal; (James 3:16) “For where envying and strife are, there is confusion…” It may be a sign of fear, for while the Spirit of God produces a sound mind, the spirit of fear produces just the opposite-----an unsound, or confused, mind: 2 Tim. 1:7 “God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but the Spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind”. Confusion may arise from harboring pride in our hearts or from resisting God’s will, for when either are present God resists us: ( James 4:6) “God resisteth the proud and give grace to the humble.
A Confounded Mind A confounded mind differs from a confused one in that rather than swirl
around chaotically our thoughts simply comes to a halt. We experience
temporary mental paralysis; momentarily we are unable to think at all.
Our mind freezes, or goes blank, and we suffer an embarrassing moment
of silence. No matter how difficult our trials, it is never the Lord’s
will that we be confounded: (Isa.45:17) “…ye shall not be…confounded
world without end”. Like other spiritual indicators, this sign of the
Spirit betrays specific root causes.
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