“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:5-8 NASB1995)
And in Matthew 7 we read this from verses 21-23 (NASB1995):
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”
This passage in James 1 and the one in Matthew 7 parallel each other. For they are both about people who give lip service to the Lord but who do not walk by the faith that God provided. For they chart their own course, and they go their own way, instead. They may profess to know Jesus and to be one of God’s children, and they may claim that they pray to God, and even that they seek God’s counsel, but then they still end up doing the opposite of God’s will and purpose for their lives. And so they remain in their sin.
And it helps to look up some of these words in a Greek interlinear, for the word doubting is an active and a progressive verb tense, like this is what someone does habitually, by practice. And it also means to stagger, to waver, to dispute, to contend with, to withdraw from, to oppose, as well as to hesitate, and to be someone who habitually goes back and forth in thought and opinion, like someone on a spiritual teeter-totter. And to be double-minded means to be of two-souls, a person who is cognitively split in half.
This is a person lacking in good judgment and discernment, who is ruled by their emotions, who jerks at the thought of having to give up their sins to follow Jesus in obedience to his commands. So they are people who, although they give lip service to God, are living wicked, sinful, dishonest and immoral lives, dedicated to pleasing their flesh and not to pleasing God. Many of them are manipulative con artists, who try to play the role of “Christian” while, in truth, they live the opposite of what they profess.
These are people who profess faith in Jesus Christ but morally they are descending, going downhill, going back and forth like waves of the sea, carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming, of which they are also participants. They listen to all sorts of teachings and doctrines, sometimes verbally agreeing with one side only to then agree with the opposite side, which is obvious by their chosen lifestyles and their resistance to genuine repentance and to obeying God.
And, although they may have many confessions to a desire to live differently and to no longer walk in sin, and even though they may appear to work at changing, to a certain degree, they will revert right back to “business as usual” because it is “too hard” for them to change course and to live how they know they ought to live. And even though they know that time is not on their side, and that hell will be what awaits them if they do not repent and follow the Lord in obedience to his commands, still they resist God. SAD!!
So, please don’t be one of them. For the Scriptures are quite clear on this subject. If sin is what we practice, and not obedience to God, and not holy living, we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of words spoken.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
My Sheep
Based off John 10:1-30 NIV
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.
So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.
Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…
They know my voice, so they follow me.
Teeter-Totter “Christians”
An Original Work / August 3, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
