James 4:8 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse you’re your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded”
It is so good that God promises to never leave us to our own devices. He is close at hand, even when we do not stay close. This is so, even though He could never condone sin. He can only love us no matter our condition and practices, knowing all the while what I could be ‘in Him’. Spiritual and relationship treasures await us when we ask Jesus into our heart and remain for ever faithful to Him. There are hundreds of stories and testimonies from those who have placed Jesus first in their lives in love and obedience and then find that God keeps His word and we can indeed stand on all the promises in the Bible.
We cannot forget the last half of the above text, that tells us to get rid of unrighteousness. It is not possible to hang onto sinful practices, and still believe we are a true Christian. When anyone has a purposefully double minded heart, God still cares about us, but the relationship with God on our side suffers. We can only have one person in control of each life; God or Satan. So many times people trip themselves up, by trying to have a ‘foot in both camps’, all the while meaning to do the right thing and stay close to God. Satan the arch tempter may have us indulging in an attractive or ‘darling sin’ based on self-orientation or self-interest. No matter how good our works, we are basically sinful, and it is only the self-sacrificing lovely Jesus who can save us from ourselves and sin. James 4:7 “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
Ephesians 6: 10, 11 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
Thank You Jesus for Your love and faithfulness, unto eternal salvation.