If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. [James 1.5-8]
I think this passage from James' letter is an indictment to most all of us.
It is imperative that our faith is in God alone. In other words, God is not the least bit interested in sharing our faith with anything or anyone else. As God sees it, divided loyalty (faith) is the same as no faith at all.
I know many times we excuse our disbelief in God (lack of faith) by comforting ourselves and others that God allows us to depend on doctors, medicine, insurance, etc. Oh, but we "depend on God" to use doctors, medicine, insurance, and the likes... But is that not in direct violation of the mandate we have from James that our faith be in God ALONE?
Frankly, Christians today really look and act no different than the world when it comes to faith. The pain reliever that makes an unbeliever's headache go away is the same pain reliever that the believer takes but says God heals him. Come on, Christians, if God is our healer, why then the need for the pain reliever? If God can't heal us without the aid of man's invention (pain reliever) then is He really God? Or is the pain reliever really our god?
Okay, the context of the passage above is about wisdom. So, let's talk about wisdom then! The context of the passage above is in relation to our asking for wisdom - and, he who depends on anything but God's wisdom has divided loyalty. So then, who's wisdom heals us? God's wisdom or the doctor's? Oh! It is God's wisdom through the doctor right? Well then, how can we say our faith is in God alone?
The problem with our defense of our faithless lives in depending on doctors, medicine, insurance and all is that it makes us as unsettled as a wave in the sea. Our faith is divided between God and the world. God is unwilling to share our faith with anyone else.
If doctors, medicine, insurance, and all are all allowable to God, why then do we have no record of Jesus EVER sending anyone to the doctor?
Radical? Yes, of course. Chalk it up to radical immature faith. Sure, I have some growing to do. When I get more mature I will be able to convince (as in "lie to") myself that God never intended to be my only source, but that He totally shares the load of my health with the health system. NOT!
Faith, real, God-kind of faith, IS radical. Proof? Jesus.
Father, I am experiencing conviction from Your Holy Spirit today. Please give me the wisdom to process through this conviction, to repent of my divided loyalty, and begin to please You with undivided faith in YOU ALONE.
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