As water reflects the face, so a man’s heart reflects the man. –Prov. 27:19

Caleb had every reason to be discouraged. He had been snubbed by the majority, even though he believed God and knew His promise was sound. Because the majority would not submit to God’s plan, they wandered in a desert for forty years. No one from that generation, except Caleb and Joshua, lived to enter the Promise Land.

Now at eighty-five, it was time to claim the promise God had made to him forty years earlier. For most men, this would have been a good excuse to sit back and turn the helm over to the young bucks in the group. But not Caleb. Listen to his own words: “I am just as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me the hill country that the Lord promised me that day.” Wow! I want to be like Caleb.

How is it that Caleb could say such things and be so vigorous at eighty-five? Because, as the record clearly states, he followed the Lord his God wholeheartedly. What does it mean to be wholehearted? As it turns out, this is one of the next two hallmarks of a guarded, and blessed heart that Jesus taught that we will be examining. A wholehearted heart also implies a heart that is absolutely submitted to God and His commands. So, let’s look at these two qualities of a heart after God’s own heart.

Hallmark #3: A SUBMITTED Heart

Jesus says it this way: Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Meek is not a popular in our culture. People tend to think of it as a word that describes someone who is weak—a ‘milquetoast’ personality. But we know that’s not true. Meekness is not weakness. It is strength because it describes a person, like Caleb, submitted to the Spirit’s control. It is acknowledging that I am not the captain of my own soul, or the master of my fate. I can’t do it on my own. It is strength under control—not my control, but the Spirit’s.

After being confronted with his awful sin, David repented and declared,“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me”(Psalms 51:12). The writer of Hebrews asked,“How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live?”

A heart grows hard when personal agendas replace God’s agenda. The heart submitted to the rule of God softens and becomes pliable in the Master’s hands. Jesus said, “Follow me.” A submitted heart will do that willingly because it is also a…

Hallmark #4: WHOLEHEARTED HEART. Jesus describes this hallmark this way: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” That’s why at eighty-five Caleb could say what he did.

A heart that is submitted to God’s agenda will hunger for the things that matter to God. Hungering and thirsting describes our appetites. What do we really crave and pour ourselves into? Someone once said, “we will always pay dearly chasing after what is cheap.” Christians try to follow Christ while theirs hearts are drawn to things of the world. The result is half-heartedness rather than wholeheartedness. Isn’t it amazing how exhausted we get trying to live half-hearted? The antidote to exhaustion is not rest, but wholeheartedness!

God told Jeremiah, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Moses told the Israelites (Deut 6:4-5): “The Lord is our God, the Lord is One! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.”

Wholehearted devotion is how God described Caleb and how Caleb described himself. How about you? How would God, and your grandchildren, describe what you are wholehearted about? Remember, you will treasure what consumes your heart.

Grandpause: God be in my head and in my understanding. God be in mine eyes and in my looking. God be in my mouth and in my speaking. God be in my heart and in my thinking.

Sarum Primer, 1538