January 24
Verse of the Day for January 24
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.James 1:8 KJV
The Key of Beginnings · Day 24 of 31
Reflection · 3 min read
Two Minds
James is describing someone asking God for wisdom, which is a good thing to ask for, and he attaches an unexpected warning to it.
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. The word is literally two-souled, and it appears to have been coined for this letter.
The image before it is a wave driven with the wind and tossed — not a wave that is sinking, a wave that is going wherever the last gust sent it.
What makes this bracing is the phrase in all his ways. Two-mindedness about one thing does not stay in its lane. It leaks into everything, because a person who has not settled the central question cannot settle the smaller ones either.
The remedy in the passage is not more effort. It is asking in faith — settling whose you are, and then asking from that position.
Not a wave that is sinking.A wave going wherever the wind sent it.
Instability is usually downstream of an unsettled question rather than of weak character.
Settle the central thing. The smaller decisions get much easier once it is settled.
Carry this today
What central question have you left open?
Pray
Read James 1:5–8
5If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Keep praying
Reflection by Collins Asein, from the daily devotionals in the PrayerKey app. Bible text: King James Version.