Psalm 119:113 Dilemma

The Good Place, NBC

Pardon me while I indulge my guilty pleasures with this quote from The Good Place, which is either a sacrilegious NBC sitcom or a parable about the doctrine of works vs. grace.

Chidi: So, making decisions isn't exactly my strong suit.

Michael: I know that, buddy. You once had a panic attack at a make-your-own sundae bar.

Chidi: There were too many toppings. And very early in the process you had to commit to a chocolate palate or a fruit palate and if you couldn't decide you wound up with kiwi, junior mint, raisin, and it just ruins everybody's night.

And now back to our regularly scheduled snippet from Psalm 119.

I hate double-minded people,
but I love your law.

Psalm 119:113

The Hebrew word translated as double-minded comes from a root word meaning a cleft or a branch. What was once a single thing has suddenly split into two optional directions. It also sometimes carried the meaning of a dilemma, a choice between options.

The word people doesn't actually appear in the original Hebrew text for this verse. The translators inserted it, as they often do, in order to try to make sense out of the sentence.

But David is saying he hates double-mindedness. Or double-minded fill in the blank, if you will. Double-minded people, double-minded situations, double-minded governments. Or maybe he just hates double-minded  choices, like poor Chidi faced.

I can relate. I grew up in a right vs. wrong culture. It's either this or it's that. Yes or No. Us or Them. Make up your mind, because you can't have it both ways.

As I grew older I faced a real dilemma, as do many people. My life experiences didn't always align well with an either/or approach to life.

Can divorce really be a bad thing if two people who are clearly bad for one another finally improve their lives by splitting up? If I have friends who are gay, how can I possibly tell them their way of life is sinful? If I encounter someone whose spirit was wounded by their extremely negative experiences in the church of their childhood, can I really blame them for turning their back on church?

As difficult as those dilemmas are - and I've experienced every one of them - what resonates most in me when I read David's statement that he hates double-minded people is my disdain for people who don't actually make a choice when faced with those dilemmas.

Instead of going deep in the Word to understand Jesus' teachings about divorce, and thinking long and hard about how the clear biblical teaching should be applied to the reality of toxic marriages, double-minded people just decide to go with the flow and have it both ways. Sure, divorce is bad. But it can be good sometimes, right?

Trying to have your cake and eat it too means going out of your way to re-interpret the scriptures that talk about homosexuality in order to build a castle of cards that says the greatest display of holiness is to accept each person for who they identify themselves as. Have your scriptures, but cover them with a frosting that makes it all taste better to the 21st century palate.

The double-minded people I encounter most often walking along beside me on the one road of life fall into two groups. There's the ones who want to craft their own version of spirituality while pursuing a lifestyle contrary to God's righteousness. And then there are the others who cling to a more traditional "Christian" lifestyle in many ways, claiming to live and believe according to the Word - except when they find it more convenient to follow along with the ways of the popular culture.

Why does this bother me so greatly? Because the double-minded Christians who are willing to bend their beliefs for the sake of their un-churched friends are actually doing those friends a great disservice.

Because there is a third way.

Be rooted firmly in the Word, refusing to water it down for the sake of expedience. Be focused mightily on the Mission, approaching each life experience as a God-sent opportunity to win people to Christ. Be single-minded in expressing both the Word and the Mission through Love, rather than through judgment or co-dependent faux grace..