“I Googled you,” the man said as he shook my hand. My mind was racing as I thought to myself, What the heck? We were attending a banquet for a crisis pregnancy center and, being my usual bashful self, I began to engage some of the people at our table. Before the program started, I was telling this man about how I had come to Jesus through my twin brother’s testimony. He apparently saw my name tag.

At the end of the program, he came over and took my hand and said, “I Googled you,” after which he thanked me for my service.

You have to love the Internet. You can find just about anything if you know where to look. The bad news is that the information is out there forever, and people can find out just about everything about you. By the grace of God, I’m thankful that I came to saving faith before the Internet age.

Not only are my pasts sins unavailable digitally, but God has expunged my record. “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities … as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:10,12, ESV)

If you are a Christian, you probably know this already, but God developed the first search engine. It’s called the Holy Spirit. As far back as the Old Testament, we see the Holy Spirit searching. “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:10) Going even further back, God told Solomon, “The Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought.” (1 Chronicles 28:9)

As Christians, we need God’s search engine. Why? Because “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

I’ve heard it said, “You can fool some people all the time, and all people some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time!” When it comes to God, you and I can’t fool Him at all. We often fool ourselves into thinking that we are doing okay, but because of the deceitfulness of our heart, we need a better search engine when it comes to self-examination.

King David understood this, which is why he asked God to do the deep heart search he knew he needed. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous [‘wicked,’ KJV] way in me and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24)

Over the years, I have found it beneficial to ask the Lord to show me the true status of my heart. And then, like David, I ask God to “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10) Why would I do that? Because “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9) I for one want that “strong support” God provides when my heart is “blameless toward Him.”

How is your heart doing today, my friend? Maybe it’s time for a Holy Spirit Google search.

What say ye, Man of Valor?
Semper Fidelis!