Lord, Your Servant Is Listening
Do you know it is possible to walk before the Lord with a perfect heart? If you are hungering for Jesus, you may already be desiring and earnestly trying to obey this command of the Lord. I want to encourage you that 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 told Abraham, “I am Almighty God; walk before me and be blameless” (Genesis 17:1, NKJV).
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 maturity and completeness.
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 the Lord’s whisperings and warnings quickly and totally. Such a heart says at all times, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. Show me the path, and I will walk in it.”
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).
The perfect heart wants the Holy Spirit to come and search out the innermost man, to shine into all hidden parts, to expose and dig out all that is unlike Christ. Those who hide a secret sin, however, do not want to be searched or convicted.
The Lord’s heart-searching are not vindictive but redemptive. His purpose is not to catch us in sin or condemn us but rather to prepare us to come into his holy presence as clean, pure vessels. “Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart…He shall receive blessing from the Lord” (Psalm 24:3-5). The perfect heart yearns for more than security or a covering for sin. It seeks to be in God’s presence always and dwell in communion. This means talking with the Lord, sharing sweet fellowship with him, seeking his face and knowing his presence.
