Heart Conditions: God’s Top Priority
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 (NKJV)
He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My Own Heart, who will do all My will.'
Acts 13:22 (NKJV)
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10 (NKJV)
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Matthew 5:8 (NKJV)
Our heart’s condition is crucial to God. He wants them large, whole, clean, soft, kind, and lean.
God wants our hearts to be passionately and inexorably in love with Him. Why? Because He loves us the exact same way.
'For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life' (John 3:16). Our Father loves us with an intimate, all-encompassing, bigger-than-life love.*
If we don't love Him the same way, we’ll die.
As a boy, David was anointed king, based on just one thing: his heart condition! He had no other qualifications. He loved God fully, simply, and purely. Along the way, King David made mistakes:
'Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me' (Psalm 51:5). God says our hearts are 'Deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked' (Jeremiah 17:9).
If so, what was his proven solution… to REMAIN a man after God's Own Heart?
When David was confronted with his sins, he repented and the Lord forgive him. David opened his heart for surgery, and the Healer made him better than new.
'Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression' (Psalm 19:12-13).
Born from King David’s bloodline is Jesus. The Heart Surgeon opened up His practice to every willing soul who came in faith. His righteous right Hand performed miracles, and the Blood lost in the operation wasn’t the sick patient’s. It was His Own:
'The Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin' (1 John 1:7). Nevertheless, we must remain mindful of our heart's condition: 'Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life' (Proverbs 4:23).
Heart Conditions: God’s Top Priority (Part 1)
* Scriptures on God's love for us: https://www.openbible.info/topics/god_loves_me
** David's sin(s) surrounding Bathsheba: https://missionbibleclass.org/old-testament/part2/united-kingdom/davids-sin-with-bathsheba/
** David's other big sin (that God shares with us) was taking a prideful census of Israel: http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/faq/davidcensus.shtml
NOTE: This is a 2023 update of a 2013 Carey Lewis Devotion. You may see notes to 'Actors, Models & Talent for Christ.' If you think you're not in show business, think again. Shakespeare said, 'All the world's a stage and all its men and women merely players. Mostly true. But you're not merely players. You are messengers and ambassadors for the King of kings.