One morning not long ago, I opened my Logos app and was led to consider the Hebrew word “tamim” in light of Deuteronomy 18:13.

“You shall be blameless (tamim) before the Lord your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this." 

It would seem that verses like this pose an unachievable challenge to us until we dig a little deeper into the Hebrew word “blameless”… the word for “tamim”.

To be “tamim” means to be finished, complete, or perfect (blameless) before the Lord.

Being wholehearted (tamim) with the Lord implies that we must not be double-minded—wanting two things at once, or as some would say, have your cake and eat it too.

In other words, we might desire to be at peace with God while also insisting on having things our own way or doing things our own way.

Or, we might attempt to do the right things the wrong way—our own way. This is double-mindedness—and it's not being wholehearted, “tamim”.

One of the reasons I find myself so often unsettled within my own heart is because, like Paul transparently articulated so well, I know to do right, but I often allow my flesh to overrule my desire to do what I know I should do.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:21-25)

Double-mindedness… a perceptual transformation that unveils a new understanding. If you change the perception of the background, the perceived image will shift.

For those of us who choose to walk blameless with our God, we must choose our background and allow God’s Word to frame our understanding of life.

We must be careful not to allow the world’s perception of life to influence how we live, else we find ourselves being double-minded before our God.

I feel particularly challenged to stop looking at life with a cross-eyed approach—it leads to disorientation and misdirects my moment-by-moment decisions.

Tamim… being made thoroughly whole, rejecting double-mindedness and making the Word of God the only lens through which I view life.

"… if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand” (Mark 3:25 ESV).

Prayer:
Father, as Your children, we long to be single-minded, to have the mind of Christ, and to walk blamelessly before You. May my heart be tamim, rejecting double-mindedness and making Your Word my worldview. Amen.

_______
© 2026 Jan Ross
All Rights Reserved

“Sit often under the influence of God’s Word.”🌻
www.janross.org/devotions/

Enjoy today’s devotion? 

Forward to a friend and let them know where they can subscribe (hint: it’s here). 

Want to share what God is doing in your life? Submit a short story to include in a future devotion.

Anything else? Send me an email at [email protected]!

👉 Want to create your own blog or website? Or know someone who's thinking about it? Use my referral link to get started! (Note: I earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you use the referral link. Thank you for your support!)