Christians Who Walk the Perfect Path with a Perfect Heart
"I will give heed to the blameless way. Oh, when will you come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart" (Psalm 101:2).
People are watching the path we walk. Especially, our family members are paying attention to how we live our lives. However, they are not able to clearly see our hearts. They cannot see what is in our hearts. If we ourselves struggle to see our own hearts clearly, how could they, who don’t know our hearts as well as we do, be able to see them clearly? But God sees our hearts. And God knows our hearts well. Therefore, Christians who live by faith before God focus on the hearts that God sees. They desire to imitate the heart of the Lord. They strive to live by His Word with His heart. However, Christians who live their religious life before people tend to focus on the actions that are visible to others. As a result, even though their hearts do not resemble the heart of Jesus, their outward actions may appear to reflect His image. Therefore, they receive praise from people and even respect. Perhaps, when they first received praise, they may have felt a sense of guilt or discomfort in their conscience. However, despite this, because they do not repent and turn their focus toward God to pursue proper faith, they continue to seek the approval of people and live their lives seeking praise and respect before others. Over time, they end up imitating a correct faith life only for the sake of appearances. Eventually, they become like the Pharisees, whose lips honor God but whose hearts are far from Him (Matthew 15:8). So, where is our focus? Is it on God or on people? Is it on our hearts or on our actions?
Today, in Psalm 101:2, the psalmist David says, "I will give heed to the blameless way; I will walk within my house with a perfect heart." As I reflected on this verse, I wrote the title of this meditation as "Christians Who Walk the Perfect Path with a Perfect Heart." However, after writing this title, I realized that the readers of this reflection might not agree with the terms "perfect heart" and "perfect path." The reason is that we believe no one in this world can walk with a "perfect heart" or on a "perfect path." However, we believe that only Jesus, the one and only, lived on this earth as the sinless, perfect person, walking with a perfect heart and a perfect path. Therefore, as His disciples, we Christians have the duty to imitate the perfect heart and perfect life of Jesus. For context, in this passage, when David speaks of a "perfect heart" and a "perfect path," he is referring to a "blameless heart" and a "blameless life." In other words, we are being taught that we should become blameless Christians. The more we live out our faith, the more we should strive to be blameless Christians. Although we cannot be fully blameless Christians in this world, we must continue to move toward that goal. To do so, we must first seek a blameless heart. The reason why we should prioritize the heart over actions is because actions naturally flow from the heart. By seeking a blameless heart, blameless actions should naturally emerge from that blameless heart. So, what is a blameless heart like?
Look at Psalm 101:4: “A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness.” Here, “perverse heart” refers to a deceitful heart, a life that is different on the inside and the outside (Park Yun-seon). In other words, a perverse heart refers to hypocrisy. David avoided this hypocrisy, that is, the perverse heart. He also kept away from those who practice deceit (v.7). He did not allow liars to stand before him (v.7). Therefore, David avoided wickedness. He sought to remove all evildoers, cutting off those who practice evil from the house of God (v.8).
We, as Christians who seek an unblemished and perfect heart, must avoid an evil heart. That is, we must avoid a deceitful heart. We must avoid hypocrisy. We should not live a life that is different on the inside and the outside. We must also avoid falsehood. We must avoid wicked deeds. By keeping away from an evil and deceitful heart, we should live a life that avoids hypocrisy and wickedness. We should embrace good deeds with a sincere heart. As those who seek an unblemished and perfect heart, we must live a life that performs good deeds with a sincere heart.
Second, an unblemished heart does not tolerate a proud heart.Look at Psalm 101:5: “Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; the one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, him I will not endure.” King David did not tolerate those with haughty eyes and a proud heart. If he had allowed proud people to have influence, those proud individuals, with their disregard for others, would have oppressed the people, trying only to occupy high positions and eventually plotting rebellion (Park Yun-seon). Such proud people are “those who secretly slander their neighbor.” That is, the proud are “those who harm others with secret malicious propaganda” (Park Yun-seon). King David not only did not tolerate these proud flatterers but also destroyed them.
We, as Christians who seek an unblemished and perfect heart, must never tolerate a proud heart. Moreover, we must not tolerate proud individuals. Furthermore, we must never secretly slander our neighbor. We must not tolerate those who secretly slander others. The reason is that when the Lord called us, He did not call us to harm our neighbors but to love them. Therefore, we must love our neighbors with a humble heart. We, who seek an unblemished and perfect heart, must live with a humble heart, considering our neighbors as better than ourselves, and looking after the affairs of others (Philippians 2:3-4).
Thirdly, a blameless heart is a faithful heart.
Let’s look at Psalm 101:6: “My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me.” King David, while observing his people, not only distanced himself from those who had wicked and proud hearts, but he also hated the deeds of faithless men (v.3). He drew close to the faithful and made them his servants to attend to him (v.6). The reason for this was that he needed faithful workers, not deceitful or proud people. In other words, King David made faithful workers, who walked in the perfect way, serve him (v.6).
As Christians who pursue a blameless and perfect heart, we must hate the deeds of the faithless. And we must love the deeds of the faithful. To do this, first, our hearts must be faithful hearts. And we must be faithful to our Lord. The reason is that what is required of stewards is faithfulness (1 Corinthians 4:2). We must be faithful in the little things (Luke 16:10). By doing so, we will also be faithful in much (v.10). We must be faithful to the Lord even to the point of death (Revelation 2:10). Therefore, when we stand before the Lord, I pray that we, too, will hear the Lord say to us: “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).
Wishing to be established as Christians who walk the perfect way with a perfect heart,
James Kim, Pastor
(With a heart of gratitude to the Lord who called a sinner like me, whose flaws are too many to count.)