Letting God Search Our Hearts

Do you know it is possible to walk before the Lord with a perfect heart?

To come to grips with the idea of perfection, we first must understand that perfection does not mean a sinless, flawless existence. No, perfection in the Lord’s eyes means something entirely different. It means completeness, maturity.

If you are hungering for Jesus, you may already be trying to obey this command of the Lord. It is possible, or God would not have given us such a call. Having a perfect heart has been part of the life of faith from the time God first spoke to Abraham. “I am Almighty God; walk before me, and be blameless” (Genesis 17:1, NKJV).

The Hebrew and Greek meanings of perfection include “uprightness, having neither spot nor blemish, being totally obedient.” It means to finish what has been started, to make a complete performance. John Wesley called this concept of perfection “constant obedience.” A perfect heart is a responsive heart, one that answers quickly and totally all the Lord’s call. The perfect heart cries out with David, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23–24).

God does indeed search our hearts; he said as much to Jeremiah. “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings” (Jeremiah 17:10).

Those who hide a secret sin, however, do not want to be searched or convicted. The perfect heart yearns for more than security or a covering for sin. The perfect heart wants the Holy Spirit to come and search out the innermost man. A true child of God wants him to shine into their life and dig out all that is unlike Christ. They seek to be in God’s presence always, to dwell in communion with God. Communion means talking with the Lord, sharing sweet fellowship with him, seeking his face and knowing his presence.

The Lord’s heart-searching is not vindictive but redemptive. His purpose is not to catch us in sin or condemn us, but he wants to prepare us to come into his holy presence as clean pure vessels.