James 4:7-8

James 4:7 is a fairly familiar verse: Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

And James 4:8 is familiar, too: Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you(Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hears ye double minded.) [I put the last couple of phrases in quotes, because that usually isn't quoted with the first portion, even though that is the entire verse.]

Both verses hold great truths. When you submit yourself to God and resist the devil, the devil will flee from you.

And when you bring yourself close to God, God will come close to you.

But until today I haven't consciously realized those are back to back verses. That they are together in thought.


We first must submit to God. We must give up our desires, our plans, our ideas and submit to him. In that submission, we must resist Satan. We must resist what he offers us, we must resist his temptations to sin. When we keep doing that, submitting and resisting, Satan will flee from us.

I believe that is because God has come closer to us. When we submit to God, and resist Satan, we naturally come close to God. And because we come close to God, God promises to come close to us. And when that happens, Satan flees. Not because of us, but because of God. He flees from the glory and power of God!

But the verse doesn't end there. Once we draw close to God, we are commanded to cleanse our hands and to purify our hearts. I think that is referring to this: Once we submit to God's way of thinking and doing, and when we resist Satan, thus drawing close to God and he to us, and when Satan flees from us, we need to wash our hands from the deeds we had been doing before this process started. We need to cleanse our lives from the dirt that covered us while we were drawing nigh to Satan.
One step of that is going back to those we may have hurt during that time, seeking forgiveness and reconciliation. And then seeking forgiveness from God. And then saturating ourself with the cleaning power of God's word and His Spirit.

And after we cleanse our hands, we need to purify our hearts. But James calls us something interesting in this verse: he calls us double minded. So I think he is referring to Christians who beforehand were serving God with one hand, and bringing him shame with the other. Those people that wanted to serve God, and yet wanted to serve self.

So, he's addressing those double minded Christians: "Submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will from you because when you come close to God, God will come close to you. Now once you are back in submission and fellowship with God, wash yourselves from those things you were doing. Cleanse the dirt from your hands. Also, purify your hearts, your double minded."

We are to purify, make pure, our hearts. No longer should there be even a smudge of desire to serve self and Satan. No more double mindedness. No more impurities. We are to purify our hearts and cleanse our hands.

"Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands ye sinners; and purify your hearts ye double minded."

-Kevin