Double-Mindedness
DAY TEN
PONDER THIS ENGRAVING
MEDITATE ON THESE VERSES
Joshua 24:15 | 1 Kings 18:21 | Revelation 3:15 | James 4:8 | Romans 7:19 | Genesis 49:4 | 2 Peter 2:9-14 | Proverbs 4:25
Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24––A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. James 1:8
POETIC REFLECTION
See the professor laboring, but in vain,
The world and cross together to sustain;
The globe is in his right dexterous found,
His left the cross drags sluggish on the ground;
In vain for him appears the narrow way,
The world has led him from the path astray:
In vain for him shines forth the heavenly light,
The world has risen and obscured his sight;
Two minds he has, both he may call his own,
Sometimes they lead him up, and sometimes down;
Like doubtful birds, that hop from spray to spray,
His will is never at one certain stay:
Too late he learns, with deep regret and pain,
He loses both who more than one would gain.
DEVOTION OF INTERPRETATION
Here is seen a man staggering under two heavy burdens; a globe, which represents the world, and a cross that represents the Christian religion. His knees totter, and tremble beneath the cumbrous load. The cross is the badge of his pression, which he holds, or rather drags along, with his left hand; this shows that religion is only a secondary concern with him.
In his right hand he carries the globe. The right hand being the most dexterous, shows that the practical part of his life is employed in securing the world, notwithstanding his profession. He has succeeded so well that the globe has got uppermost. It monopolizes his attention, and controls his movements. It has turned his feet from the narrow way; it has hid from his view the glorious light of the heavenly city. In going down hill, the cross slips out of his left hand; he stumbles over it, and falls; the globe falls upon him, and grinds him to powder.
This emblem needs but little illustration. It shows the folly and end of a double-minded man. The fabled Atlas, who carried the world on his shoulders, attempted nothing, accomplished nothing, compared with the man who labors to secure both this world and the next; he has two souls, or minds, which govern him by turns; but in the end the worldly principle prevails. His folly consists in trying to what is in itself absolutely impossible––what no man did or ever can do. God himself has separated the world from the cross; what God hath separated, no man may bring together; the nature of the Gospel forbids such union. Its influences, doctrines, precepts, objects, rendencies, and final issues are all opposed and contrary to the principles, maxims, practices, and interests of this world.
In the Gospel, provision is made to renew the hear, and to enable man to set his affections on things above, not on things on the earth. The cross is as much as any man can carry, let him have as much grace as he will. If any doubt remains, Christ, the great Umpire of all disputed claims of this kind, has pronounced the decision: “No man can serve two masters;” “Ye cannot serve God and mammon”
The double-minded man is unstable in all his ways; sometimes he is seen among the disciples of Christ, then again he appears following the course of this world. He takes no comfort in religion, and none in the world. Everything connected with him is double; a double curse rests upon him wherever he goes. True Christians are ashamed of him; the ungodly despise him; he is a laughing-stock for devils; his own conscience reproaches him; and a double punishment will be the portion of his cup forever.
The mad prophet Balaam is a remarkable instance of double-mindedness. In profession, he would be a prophet of Jehovah; in practice, he followed and “loved the wages of unrighteousness.” Despised by the people of God, to whom he was a stumbling-block; despised and reproached by Balak for his indecision, he died under the wight of a double curse, and left his name a proverb of reproach and shame.
Choose you this day whom ye will serve. Joshua 24:15.
How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. 1 King 18:21.
I know thy works, that though art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. So, then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Revelations 3:15,16.
Barber, John Warner, 1798-1885. Bible Looking Glass: Reflector, Companion and Guide to the Great Truths of the Sacred Scriptures, and Illustrating the Diversities of Human Character, and the Qualities of the Human Heart.
Philadelphia, Bradley, Garretson & Co., 1861