What does a "perfect heart" mean in the Bible?
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Whosoever Will, Why Would He Look?: The Hebrew is shalem. It is related to shalom, peace, wholeness. It does not mean sinless. It does not mean flawless moral performance. It means whole, complete, undivided, wholly His. A shalem heart is not a heart that never fails. It is a heart that is not split, a heart pointed in one direction, undivided in its loyalty. Even careful Reformed commentators grant this: the perfect heart here is the sincere and upright heart, not complete, nor free from sin, but whole in its bent toward God. That is a mercy, because it means the verse is not looking for spiritual superheroes. It is looking for the undivided. And it also tells you exactly what went wrong with Asa. His heart did not become wicked. It became divided. Half on God, half on the king of Syria. Half praying, half scheming. The wholeness cracked, and a divided heart is precisely the thing those roving eyes are no longer able to throw their full strength behind, not because God grew cold, but because Asa had split the very thing the promise rested on. Scripture, King James Version: 2 Chronicles 16:9, "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.".
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What does a "perfect heart" mean in the Bible? → wsb.bible/answers/what-does-a-perfect-heart-mean-in-the-bible
This answer is the short form. The argument is made at length in Why Would He Look?: What a “Perfect” Heart Actually Is.