5 Sermon Illustrations on Double Mindedness

5 illustrations

Double-mindedness in Christian preaching refers to the instability and divided loyalties of a person who wavers between God and worldly desires, leading to spiritual failure and reproach (James 1:8). Illustrations often use images of contradiction and folly, warning against the impossibility of serving two masters (Matthew 6:24).

Double-Mindedness, Example of

Balaam exemplifies double-mindedness, leading to reproach and a double curse.

The mad prophet Balaam is a remarkable instance of double-mindedness. In profession, he would be a prophet of Jehovah; in practice, he followed and "loved the wages of unrighteousness." Despised by the people of God, to whom he was a stumbling-block; despised and reproached by Balak for his indecision, — he died under the weight of a double curse, and left his name a proverb of reproach and shame.

— Holmes

Double-Mindedness, Folly of

Trying to serve both God and the world is impossible and leads to folly.

The fabled Atlas, who carried the world on his shoulders, attempted nothing, accomplished nothing, compared with the man who labors to secure both this world and the next. He has two souls, or minds, which govern him by turns; but, in the end, the worldly principle prevails. His folly consists in trying to do what is in itself absolutely impossible, — what no man ever did or ever can do. God himself has separated the world from the cross: what God hath separated, no man may bring together. Holmes.

Double-Mindedness

Human nature is divided, showing conflicting virtues and vices within one person.

Charles Wagner, in “The Gospel of Life,” remarks thus on the double nature of men:

Duplicity, rending apart, partition of the will and of the heart, lamentable division--that is our life! It is not a continuous chain; it is only links broken and dispersed. We are peace-loving, just, truthful, sober, chaste, disinterested; but we are also malicious, unjust, cunning, intemperate, impure. We are like those ships that carry to the colonies, along with the Bibles and religious tracts, cannon, alcohol, and opium; or those poets full of contrary talents, who play turn by turn on the sacred lyre and on the strident conch-shell.

I Can Live Under Any Government

During the Civil War in America, three Northern officers were appointed on a commission with three Southern officers, after the battle of Prairie Grove, to negotiate an exchange of prisoners. While the commission was sitting, an aged farmer strayed into the room, thinking it was the provost's office. His eyes were dim but he quickly noticed the uniforms, and supposing himself in the presence of the Northern staff, began protesting his loyalty to the Union. One of the officers facetiously advised him to be cautious and, pointing to the Southern officers, told him to look at them. The old man put on his spectacles and, recognizing the uniforms, explained that his heart was with the South in the great struggle and that his only son was a soldier in the Southern army.

Gazing around the room, he recognized the Northern uniforms also and was bewildered. At last, he leaned both hands on the table and, surveying the entire party, he said: "Well, gentleman, this is a little mixed; but you just go on and fight it out among yourselves. I can live under any government."

-- Christian Herald

Doubt and Double-Mindedness

Mark 9:24

In a book titled In Two Minds, Os Guinness points out that the

Latin word for doubt, dubitare, comes from an Aryan root meaning

"two." Says Guinness, "To believe is to be 'in one mind' about

accepting something as true; to disbelieve is to be 'in one mind'

about rejecting it. To doubt is to waver between the two, to believe

and doubt at once, and so to be 'in two minds.'"

This distinction is seen in \reference{Mark 9:24}{Mark 9:24}. The

distressed father of the demon-possessed boy said, in effect, "Lord,

one part of me believes, another part doesn't. Help the part that

doesn't." Since Jesus never rewarded unbelief, His action shows that

doubt rather than full-fledged unbelief plagued the man's heart.

The Double-Minded Man - James 47:51

by Anton Bosch

Anton Bosch's sermon on James emphasizes the necessity of aligning faith with actions to avoid the pitfalls of double-mindedness.

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