Convictions

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."
-James 4:7,8 (ESV)


Does it get any clearer than this? I think this verse tells us as Christians how to completely separate ourselves from the evils of the vile world we live in. We must not be "double-minded" as the verse says, also known as "lukewarm". God says He will spit us out of His mouth if we are lukewarm. That is one of the worst thoughts any Christian, or human for that matter, could ever think.

Submission is a key component of obedience, which I think is one of the main things that God wants from us every single day. Obedience displays faith in God's will for whatever situation you find yourself in. The devil will never stop trying to catch you in a snare, but James says if you RESIST him then he will FLEE. That doesn't mean just kinda shake him off lightly and try to ignore it. No. That means you utterly rebuke Satan and completely THROW him out of your life, by the name of Jesus Christ. And he will flee.

Drawing near to God is one of the most comforting feelings. "The Bible is keeping you from sin, or sin is keeping you from the Bible." When sin infiltrates your life and you don't repent of it, you are not drawn close to God because of that separation that sin causes. But when you do repent and turn away from that sin, you are drawn near to God, and He in turn draws near to you. Of course, I am saying all these things and I myself constantly struggle with drawing near to God because I continually let sin keep me separated from God. That's a never-stopping work though--something I have to work at every single day.

Cleansing and purification go along with the repentance piece--removing yourself from an evil and sinful habit or lifestyle. Man, I would love to be able to say that I am always submitting myself to God, resisting the devil, drawing near to God, and cleansing and purifying my heart. But the truth is that I am not always doing that, and it's hard for me to do that as much as I should. But I can't do it on my own. I am nothing and completely incapable without the power of God that works through me. That's something else I am continually working on--removing myself and letting God control my every step. My self-awareness is always taking over my Christ-awareness. I need to ask the Lord every day to give me Christ-awareness, so He will steady me until my completeness in Him is absolute.