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Click to hear a powerful song “Rise Up O Men of God”
I had a good friend of mine ask me a simple yet profound question:
“So what is a wholehearted man?”
Wow, good question. It really made me think…
“Wholehearted” is defined as being ardent, authentic, committed, dedicated, determined, devoted, fervent, genuine, passionate, steadfast, true, unreserved, unwavering, and zealous.
Wholehearted men live out of a deep sense of passion, purpose, commitment, conviction, identity and life. But, what does it mean to be wholehearted in relation to God?
I think a wholehearted man is wholeheartedly following God and has been made “whole” by God.
Let me explain. It is not enough to believe in Jesus. It is not enough to know about Jesus. It is even not enough to know Jesus. Even Satan believes that Jesus is real, knows about Him and knows Him personally. No, the mark of a true believer, a true ‘follower’ is just that – they follow Jesus. They obey Jesus. They have surrendered their will to Him and are obeying Him instead of doing what they want.
Jesus said that if we love Him we will obey Him.
Wholehearted men have turned their backs on sin and doing things their way and have wholeheartedly thrown themselves into God’s way of doing things. God’s will, God’s way on a daily, moment by moment basis. They give Him all they have.
Wholehearted men are not “half-hearted” in how they walk with Jesus – a little bit of God when it’s convenient. Be God’s man on Sundays and then my own man the rest of the week. Call out to God when things are bad, but go silent when things are good. Keep one foot in the pleasures of the world, and one foot in the purposes of God. Count the blessings, but not the cost. Desire the life, without the death. Savor the salvation, without the sacrifice.
No, wholehearted men have hearts that are wholly His. All in. Men who have gotten out of the driver’s seat of their life and handed the keys to Jesus. Drive on Lord – I’ll go where you want, not try to talk you into going where I want to go.
Sure, no one is perfect, and I am fairly confident that is not what the Lord is looking for – that’s what His grace and mercy are all about. However, we have been given a will with which we can choose to surrender to God’s will or not. We have a will with which we can embrace humility and repentance when we mess us.
And, as we wholeheartedly pursue our Heavenly Father’s heart, through the redemptive work of Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, we will have our hearts made whole by God’s work in us and through us. God’s overwhelming love – His great goodness and His good greatness – heals our wounds and sets us free from the ravages of sin.
Oh the great redeeming work of Jesus bringing God’s beloved sons and daughters back into an extraordinary relationship with our Father God. Hope, healing, freedom, favour, vision, blessing, victory, comfort, beauty, gladness, love – all part of our inheritance as children of God. Will we ever be completely made whole this side of heaven? I don’t think so, but there is far more wholeness for us than we can imagine.
It is certainly not easy to be a wholehearted man. It takes dedication, discipline, desire, determination and delight. God is looking for men who are wholeheartedly His. Men whose hearts are fully His. Men who are fully committed to Him. I think wholehearted men are continually praying, “Lord I believe, please help my unbelief.”, and then they keep moving forward with single-minded determination into more of God’s heart for them and through them.
We never arrive; we are always on a journey. It’s only by God’s grace we can walk wholeheartedly with Him with an iron will to obey, and a bended knee to surrender. Let us continue on. Let us press forward to be the wholehearted men that the Lord is seeking so that we might experience all that is in His heart for us. It’s not perfection He wants, simply a man who continues to pursue Him – wholeheartedly. To give him all that we’ve got.
Rise up oh men of God – give heart and soul and mind and strength to serve the King of Kings! Let’s give Him all that we’ve got!
Romans 6:12-14 (The Message)
“That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time – remember, you’ve been raised from the dead! – into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God.”
II Chronicles 16:9
“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
Deuteronomy 1:36
“…except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly.”