Coming Near to Worship.

James instructs his audience to, “Come near to God and He will come near to you” {4:8a}. How beautiful is that? It tells us we are not the passive people of God; we are active and engaged in coming near, in the intimacy of our own discipleship! “Wash your hands, you sinners,” which is what the priests under the Old Covenant did before serving in the Tabernacle and Temple. And which is what we do before attempting anything of eternal value in the Kingdom of Grace. We enter into both confession and repentance, a change of attitude leading to action, a ‘turning away’ from what we know will destroy us and the substitution of trusting humility for arrogant pride.

“And purify your hearts, you double-minded” = “you two-souled” {v. 8b}. Here we have a peek at the process of restoration and transformation, a process which— let’s just admit it, let’s acknowledge it openly— is almost always a painful one. Let’s frame it this way: it is bound to involve pain and heartache {literally} at some point. We’re talking about taking a deeper look at our lives, at wounds still at work in our hearts, at our ‘personalities’ and the relational effect we have on others. We’re talking about wading into the murky waters of our own motives and asking Abba to examine us all the way down to the level of why we do what we do. Good, bad, or in between.

James goes on to tell us, “Grieve, mourn and wail....” Why would I do that? This doesn’t sound fun. At all. Because this is the painful part of the Journey. And grief is the agent God uses to purify the pain of a wounded heart— to leach the poison of loss from our souls before it destroys who we are or hinders who we were meant to be.

“Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom” {v. 9b}. It’s sad that I have to say this, but it won’t be as clear if I don’t. My words get twisted enough as it is, so allow me this moment of clarity, if you will. The abundance of Life, the Freedom for our souls which Jesus offers through His Resurrection, is not about endless grief, mourning, and gloom! But “there is a time for everything” wrote “the Teacher” in Ecclesiastes {ch. 3}, and the process of transformation, of restoration, of healing, wholeness and holiness contains ample amounts of all three. The shadows of the past can be very dark indeed, and the losses they contain have been mounting up for years, sometimes decades even. Those losses must be grieved ...so they can be purified by the Light of Christ, and the wounds they represent washed clean by the His blood and healed by His presence. Are you with me here? Good. Because all we long for, all we have dreamed of and desire, is waiting on the other side of this.

Ric Webb, Shepherd
Heart's Journey Community
hjcommunity.org