Double-mindedness litmus test

When I shop at the supermarket, do I love each one I meet, the grumpy, the sad, the cheerful, the good, the bad, and the ugly? There is no doubt that each and everyone needs the encouragement of unconditional love. If I am selective in my love, I am double-minded.

If I accept even a little good luck, or bad luck, and yet would turn to God for help, I am double-minded. Imagine accepting chance as a part of mathematics. Would it not undermine the whole thing? Surely the same is true in life. Who could imagine an almighty God, Love, which shared its power, its jurisdiction, with amoral, mindless, chance!?!

These are just two close-to-home examples. We be wise to watch out for the big defender of double-mindedness, personal sense which whines: "Some people are just not worth my love." "I have had a bad streak of things happening to me. I know what bad luck feels like. There is no other explanation!" These states of thought are warned against: "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." (James) Why? Because he has no rock, no Principle, to stand upon.

If you are looking for a challenge, the following excerpt from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures confronts the supposed co-existence of matter and Spirit, a form of double-mindedness. Reason is pitted against the personal sense we referred to above.

The Trial (29 minutes)