Dirty Hands Equal Dirty Hearts

You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor. [James 4.4-10] 

As much as Christianity today wants to focus on other topics, the Bible declares over and again what it is that we should train our attention to...

Believing something - anything - other than what God said is disastrous. Misplaced trust is what got the whole sin problem going in the Garden of Eden. Instead of resisting the devil, Eve (& Adam) gave friendly consideration to the alternative presented by Satan and foolishly became enemies of God in so doing. The original sin, in all its disobedience, was, in fact, idolatry. They believed another god besides the LORD their God.

Man has been believing other gods besides the LORD his God ever since.

There is good reason the first three of the Ten Commandments deal strictly and comprehensively with the subject of singular faith in God alone. The first three Commandments leave no doubt about God's unyielding jealous disposition toward His people's affinity for anything or anyone else. God demands undivided faith and devotion of His followers. Jesus summed up the first three Commandments like this:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24 (also, Mark 8.34 & Luke 9.23)]

I will reference here a couple of articles written earlier that confirm to me that God is only intensifying His move to purify His people (the Bride of Christ) before the end. See Zero Options from 2017, and then Outdated, Irrelevant, And Just Plain Foolish? from 2024. 

Regardless how religion will try to avoid and downplay the subject of idolatry in the modern Church, God's Word is relentless about it. The only way to avoid the ongoing subject of idolatry is to avoid the Word of God. Frankly, this is the overwhelming condition of the Church today - ignorance of God's Word. Consequently, idolatry abounds. In the subject passage above, James said, Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? 

Oh, to be sure, the music is good, the ambiance is just right and today's messages make people feel good about themselves in their too-busy-to-read-the-Bible-and-pray lifestyles. However, until people see the first three Commandments and Jesus' New Testament "Follow Me" demand for their 'zero tolerance' policy for "options," (idols), there will be no revival and there will be no distinguishable manifestation of the Holy Spirit's power (no matter how emotional we get). In James' words,

Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. [James 4.8]

The topic of idolatry is not just a good study. Idolatry is the ongoing problem addressed throughout the entire Bible and Jesus is the only solution! And, as would be expected, Jesus made no room for 'idol seminars' like all the other fad topics the Church distracts itself with today (He never used the word "idol"), but what did Jesus say? “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.

The only solution to idolatry is to give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me [Jesus]. James tells us what this will look like:

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor. [James 4.7-10] 

To "wash our hands" is to get the dirt off. Idols are the "dirt" that must be washed from our hands. It must be understood that idols don't just soil the hands, but also they soil the heart where faith resides. If man's heart gives place to idols, man's faith gives place to idols. If man's faith gives place to idols, his loyalty is divided between God and the world. In this way, man is in stark violation of the first three Commandments and, more importantly, in violation of Jesus' demand to give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.

So, what do the "hands" have to do with anything if the heart is where idolatry takes place? The "hands" represent man's involvement with making and handling idols. Debt, insurance, medicine and technology are all the products of man's design - man's hands, if you will - and they are "dirt" in God's eyes that must be washed away. This literal removal of the "dirt" (idols) on the outside makes way for purification of the heart - for loyal, singular faith in God alone - on the inside. Dirty hands equal dirty hearts. As long as our hands are dirty with idols and we arrogantly refuse to wash them, our hearts remain impure and will remain "distant" (not close) to God. Earlier in his letter, James said:

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 1.6-8]

What do we do then? 

We humble ourselves to God AND GOD ALONE! This is done in and through the person of Jesus Christ. We humble ourselves to give up our own way (the way of the world -the way of idolatry), take up our cross, and follow Jesus. 

To "resist the devil," man must only humbly (but intentionally) turn to God. Man's "turn to God" naturally puts him in a defensive position of resistance with his back toward Satan - it puts Satan behind him. We should remember here exactly what Jesus said to Satan:

But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” [Matthew 16.23 NKJV]

Then, in humility before God, man must wash his hands of the dirt of idolatry. As much as this sounds like an "effort," it must be remembered that it is Jesus Who does the actual purification. When we wash our hands of idols on the outside (what we can and must do - repent - turn away), it gives Him permission to do the purification of our hearts on the inside (what only He can and wants to do - give salvation and every blessing of God manifesting by the distinct power of the Holy Spirit).

Father, help me and every person who reads this to humbly turn to You forsaking every friendship with the world - every idol - in so doing. May we be found in pure undivided faith in You alone - following Jesus. So be it.