How "stable" are you?

I saw this picture this morning and it made me think of my grandfather.  Now I will not say that I agree with his thinking, but it was funny.  He was a mechanic, and he used to say, "They ought to make 3 turn signals on the car for women.  Left, Right, and "I am not sure where I am going"."

When he said it, he usually got a laugh (depending, of course, who his audience was).  But he did have a point.  Have you ever followed a driver that did not know where they were going?  They look like they are turning left and then it looks like they are turning right.  They slow down and then speed up.  The move into one lane only to move back into the original lane.  They are lost - or at best - indecisive about where they are going.

James tells us that "the double minded man is unstable in all his ways."  What does he mean by this? 

As a follower of Christ, it is my desire (or at least it should be) to pursue the passions, the direction, the will of Christ.  It should be His directives alone that I follow - my own personal goals, ambitions, desires, etc. should never be taken into account.  It is all about Him.  Jesus, as recorded by Luke, reminds his disciples that they do not "thank" a servant for doing what is commanded of him, but rather expect (even after the servant spent a long day working in the field) the servant to come in, make dinner for the master, and care for him first.  How silly, Jesus implies, it would be for the master to serve the servant dinner first.  The servant thinks only of the needs of the master - not the master the needs of the servant.

Putting these two thoughts together makes me wonder about the church today, about my life today.  Why is there such weakness in the body?  Why does it seem like God is not moving to the extent that He could move?  Why is the world not being changed to the capacity it could for the Kingdom?

I think the answer lies in the connection of these two thoughts.  At least as I evaluate my life this is the conclusion I draw.  If a double minded man is unstable, then he cannot make a very strong impact.  If I am teetering between my objective as a servant and my desire to be the boss, my mind is not set.  I want my way, but I want to serve God.  I want my pleasure, but I want God to be pleased.  I want my goals, but I want my life to produce what He wants.  I want to be secure, but I want to trust God.  I want to be safe, but I want to risk all for the Kingdom.

This makes me think of my son holding on to the rope at the top of the cliff.  We were at a lake and were using a rope swing to swing out over the water and jump in.  He wanted so badly to enjoy the fun of swinging on the rope, but was enjoying too much the safety of standing on the ground.  Eventually he took the swing, but initially he was anything but "stable minded".

The Church cannot teeter between God's passions and our own.  The Body cannot decide between following God and following our own logic.  We must decide, individually and corporately, that we are either servants of the King, subject to His every whim, or we are masters of our own lives.  This is the decision, and it must be made.

Either way, a stable mind will follow.  One that leads to death, and the other that leads to life, yes, but at least the mind will be stable and effective in moving forward.  If we want to change the world, either for our own interests or God's, we MUST decide. 

I MUST DECIDE.