James 4:8

"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded."Draw near to God" -"come near, approach" (Thayer p. 164). Be impressed that one can be. professed Christian and yet be far from God. James isn't admonishing non-Christians, but rather Christians to draw near to God. One can be. Christian and yet not be close to God. We have already been told how to draw near to God, that is by humbling ourselves, and placing our selves completely under His authority. Some people try to draw near to God by attending more often, reading the bible more often, etc…., but they do all these important things without giving God their heart. Increased study and prayer will be to no avail if we continue to trust in ourselves."He will draw near to you" -Fellowship and intimacy with God are conditional. God wants to draw near to us! God wants. close relationship with us! "We couldn't possibly want to be close to God as much as he wants to be close to us. We couldn't possibly want to love God as much as he loves us" (Draper p. 125). What. thought! Knowing that when we draw near to God, God is drawing near to us, and God wants and earnestly desires our love and dedication. God can be approached by imperfect people, and God draws near to sinners who willing to humble themselves."Cleanse your hands" -a figurative expression which means to cleanse yourselves (Isaiah 2:15; Psalms 24:4; 1 Timothy 2:8). "Hands is an appropriate metaphor for outward activity, just as hearts in the next clause…refers to inward thoughts and attitudes" (Kent p. 150)."you sinners" -The Christian who is. friend of the world is. sinner. Such. friendship can and does affect our relationship with God. Note, James has. tremendous amount of love for these brethren, but there at times when love must speak plainly. "It is noteworthy that the more common 'brethren' by which James usually addressed his readers, gives way to this sharp term of reproach in this instance. This was doubtless done to impress them with the seriousness of the situation, and to shock them into action to remedy it" (Woods p. 230). "purify your hearts" -Without the purification of the heart, cleaning up the outward actions is vain. But how many of us when we repent, simply cleanse the hands? How many of us think that simply stopping the outward sin is an adequate level of repentance? And notice that we have the obligation to clean up our own hearts, for in the end, I'm the only one who can really change my attitudes and motives (2 Corinthians 7:1; Romans 12:1). Look at the hope found in this verse! The heart can be purified, the mind can be changed, and attitudes can shift!. bad attitude,. selfish disposition isn't set in stone---we can change if we want to. "Christianity is not just. way of putting on an act or. front; it is. matter of the heart" (Draper p. 126). True conversion, real change, is. real possibility."you double-minded" -"divided in interest" (Thayer p. 153). The person who can't seem to make up their mind. Someone wavering between two opinions. "A man who cleanses the outside and leaves the inside impure is. double-minded man" (Draper p. 126). The person who tries to get the best-for self out of the world and the best-for self out of Christianity at the same time. The friend of the world can be simply. person who has compromised, someone wavering between God and the world. The person who loves God, but not completely, they have some trust in God, but not fully, they don't like some things in the world, but they don't abhor every evil in the world. They see the value of Christianity, but they still want to flirt with sin.