Create in Me a Clean Heart

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” — Psalm 51:10

Who was asking this question? It was David.

David was truly God’s creation, yet David had sinned against God. That sin did not change the fact that he was still God’s creation. In his brokenness, he needed God to do two things: create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him.

To create implies bringing something to life—taking something that had no life and making it alive. The word create makes me think of a body shop or a place of building and restoration. One might even say that David was a bit like the Tin Man—he was asking for a heart, and not just any heart, but a brand-new one.

But notice something interesting. David asked God to renew his spirit, not create a new one. Why not ask God to create a new spirit as well? Could it be that everything we are—mind, body, soul, and spirit—must pass through the heart first?

Perhaps David felt that his heart had become so treacherous, so damaged by his own actions, that he desperately needed God to give him a brand-new one. Maybe his old heart was so tattered and worn down by wrong choices that he felt it best for God to simply replace it altogether.

Whatever the case, David was still God’s creation.

God creates nothing imperfect or flawed. Everything God created, He created well.

How Does God’s Perfect Creation Become Flawed?

Here’s the catch. If God’s creation is perfect, how does it become flawed?

We become flawed through our own doing—gratifying the flesh at any cost. Being led away by our own desires is what dulls our shine for Christ.

But here’s the good news: God never intended to cast away His sons and daughters because of our flaws.

Within God’s creation, there will be flaws. Often times, flaws are mistaken for sin—but they are not always the same.

A sin is an immoral act, and anything immoral is subject to God’s judgment.
A flaw is defined as a mark or imperfection.

So guess what? God doesn’t expect perfection—He expects progress.

The Thin Line Between Sin and Flaw

So what’s the thin line between a sin and a flaw?

A sin tends to be more connected to the heart.

For example, maybe you struggle with timeliness. It’s a battle for you to be at work on time. That can be considered a flaw, not necessarily a sin.

But the sin comes in when we lie about why we’re late.

Are you late because of traffic—or are you late because you were leaving from an early morning rendezvous with another woman’s husband?

Well, well, well, church!

Of course, you can’t tell that truth. Save it for confessional—and laughter filled the room!

So we lie and say it was traffic. Now that “flaw” of struggling with lateness has turned ugly. God’s perfect creation has now become spotted by our own lust, lies, and self-will.

Grace to Get in Place

The good news is this: whether it’s a flaw or a sin, we are still God’s handcrafted, beautiful, and perfect creation.

Sadly, we often do our own recreating of our character. We rewrite our personalities by being led away by our own desires, and those desires can cost us years of regret. We create an ungodly character within ourselves that becomes ugly and unlovable.

But there is hope—and that hope is called grace to get in place.

God always gives us a way to escape any temptation that may cause us to sin against Him. He intends for us to turn totally to Him.

It’s like buying a product from a store and discovering it’s defective. The store allows you to return it because they produced it and are responsible for making it right.

The same applies to us and God.

When we find a flaw or sin in our lives, God wants us—the product—to return to Him, because He is responsible for helping us become new again.

He renews in us a right spirit.
He creates in us a clean heart.

We belong to Him, and He is the only One who can clean us up and put us back out on the showroom floor.

We are God’s perfect creation.

Blessings.