Description
Let’s meditate on James 4:8 and seek to understand what God means when he asks us to cleanse our hands and purify our he… (visit YouTube for more)
Transcript
James 4 verse 8 says: Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.
James isn’t saying that we can make God draw close to us. No, God is already in that posture towards us of drawing near. But we also should extend our hands to him. And we will find that he is near to us when we draw near to him.
James says, let’s wash our hands, let’s make sure we are living clean lives because we are sinners. Even though we’re saved, our hearts still incline towards evil.
James wants us to recognise our part, our responsibility. We can’t achieve our salvation, but we can participate in our sanctification, in the constant process of becoming cleaner and becoming more like Jesus. We do a tiny fraction of a percent of the work and God does the rest, but that tiny fraction of a percent remains our duty and we should do it.
And we will find great joy in doing our small bit and seeing that God is there welcoming us and loving us and being close to us. He loves it when we take our steps towards holiness and he brings us the rest of the way.
He makes us like Jesus. He clothes us in righteousness. All these things we can’t do. But he does want us to use the things that he’s given us. He does want us to make good use of our time. He does want us to read his word, to listen, to respond. And in doing that, we find the great joy of being in his presence.
Thank you, God, for your promise that as we draw near to you, as we take these faltering steps towards holiness, you are there all the way cheering us on and loving us. Thank you for your presence. Amen.
