James 4

8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world...Humble yourselves before the LORD....  I just have to come close to God, I have to incline myself towards Him...I don't have to reach Him, I don't have to feel like I am close...I just have to come close...next words tell me what to do to close the gap (on my part) between me and God versus me and the world...for when I am unwashed and un-purified I am more separated from God and more aligned with the world.  To come close I must wash and purify and humble myself....and God will come close to me, a sinner.  Thank you God for giving me a way to come close to You.  And to keep me from drawing close to the world.  I want to draw near to You, please teach me the dailyness of the ways to wash and purify and humble myself in order to draw nearer and nearer to You.  And thank You that You would even want me to draw near to You.

NLT: James 4:17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

Amplified: verse 17 So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.

'Nuff said.  Dear God, Please help me.

I came across the following verses in some other reading I was doing and was struck by their resonance with James.  The works of the folks show that they are denying God, despite their words, and that we are to do good work in order to display the wisdom, righteousness and devotion to God we have.  Actions speak louder than words.

Titus 1:15-16 15 To the pure, everything is pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; in fact, both their mind and conscience are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, and disqualified for any good work.

Titus 2:7 And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching.
12 And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God,