"Doubt" by Norma Brown, 2024
Watercolor on Paper 12"x 10"
(James 1:6-8) But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt διακρίνω, because the one who doubts διακρίνω is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
This διακρίνω the range of meanings include “to distinguish, to judge; separate, distinguish, discern one thing from another; I doubt, hesitate, waver.”
James is drawing us this picture of trying to catch a waves, to hold them or keep them, it’s impossible,
Waves comes forward, to the edge of the shore, then they recedes, back again, out and back and never one or the other… They knock you over, unsettle the ship, rise and fall in the storms
For us in our conversation today, this disqualifying “doubt” the diakrino - that we need to avoid that we might receive from God- is that double-mindedness
Are you here with us, you can’t find God’s blessing or wisdom in trying to do good for the community while also making sure that you aren’t too implicated. You can’t follow after God while also walking in the opposite direction. You can’t work for God’s kingdom on earth while also working against God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. You can’t be a part of this community and also be working destructively for discriminatory practices. If you are trying to breed instability around you so that you might profit, God is not going to give you wisdom to be better at being divisive, destructive, two-faced, or awful.
If you are doing that, you are doing that on your own.
That’s not faith
That’s not religion
That’s not Jesus
Ask God for wisdom- God wants to give generously, God gives without shame, without fault without price…
But don’t think that you can use God to shame someone else
Don’t think that God’s generosity to you means that you can be stingy to someone you don’t prefer
Don’t think that Jesus’s free gift of salvation means that your margins for profit can be wide.
Grace is not yours to sell.