There is a saying “Jesus Knows My Heart.” It is often said in a manner to placate our conscience, to make it ok to do things that deep down we know we should not be doing.
Telling ourselves that “Jesus Knows My Heart” is supposed to give us an out. Somehow, Jesus created us for sin, and to sin, and he has already worked it into the formula that we must do horrible things. Yet, isn’t it the same Jesus who said, “go and sin no more?” Has the creator God tasked us to do things that we simply cannot do? Is he cruel? Is he insensitive to the flaws that he himself gave us?
Perhaps the creator God does know my heart, and he knows I can overcome. Isn’t this the reason for the admonition “Be ye perfect as your father in heaven is perfect,” or even “He that overcomes will I grant to sit with me?”
So, the fact that Jesus knows our hearts may mean something entirely different than what we’ve previously thought. Perhaps it actually means he knows our capacity, our potential, and seeks to make that potential actual. When he says, “go and sin no more” he is not saying it to be mean or condescending, but rather, to stir up the gifts within us. The gifts to face the Goliaths in our lives, to walk on water and to rend mountains asunder.
In the book of Acts, we see potential made actual as we witness the complete transformation of the disciples of Jesus. As followers who once hid and denied Christ, they were now boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God while risking their very lives. Jesus knew their capacity all along and sought an opportunity to stir up what he himself had already placed there.
Yes, there is no doubt that Jesus knows our hearts and our immense capacity to overcome. But the question is, are we willing, together with Christ, to stop sinning, and rise to the occasion of living a truly righteous life.