Jesus proclaims in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” The “pure in heart” do more than just the right things when it is convenient. Jesus is very clearly putting emphasis on the purity of our inner being. I saw this great definition of purity: “Freedom from any sinister or improper motives or views.” The root of everything that we do day-to-day is our inner person. This is why Jesus calls for purity.
I have to point out one other thing…..”purity of heart” does not in any way imply “sinless”. Remember, it’s a process. When we mourn our sin and recognize that we need God in everything concerning our lives, when we start to find that strength of character to humble ourselves before God and others (meekness), when we hunger and thirst to know and do what is right and when we show mercy to others….we start an inner cleansing in our heart…this process is “purity of heart”.
Matthew 5:8 (TNIV)
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
If our hearts are pure, we have no problem doing the right things. Now I know what many will say, this is impossible. We think that way because we often live in a black and white world, not a world of shades. What I mean is, “purity in heart” is a process, not a state of being. What I beleieve Jesus is saying is “Blessed are those who seek to live a life devoid of sinister or improper motives or views.”
I would note that these attitudes of our heart, the Beatitudes, are in AN ORDER…Jesus is awesomely amazing! I would also note that up to now, the first five Beatitudes were attitudes that we could adopt intentionally. Look closely at “purity of heart”…this is a natural outcome from applying the first five: –Blessed are the poor in spirit –Blessed are those who mourn –Blessed are the meek –Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness –Blessed are the merciful –BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART: As we start the process of applying these first Beatitudes to our lives……our heart starts to become pure…..and what is the blessing? “For they will see God”
Psalms 24:3-4 (TNIV)
3 Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? 4 Those who have clean hands and a pure heart….
What does it mean to be pure in heart? One thing that it means is to live “without hypocrisy”. Hypocrites are miserable, they truly are not very happy with themselves. Purity of heart is not just being “outwardly” clean; it is being “inwardly” clean in the secret recesses of our heart. If we have a pure heart, we have one purpose –to glorify God– in all that we do.
Purity of heart means to actively check our motives and resist doing things out of selfish pride or to resist doing things that will hurt others in order to make ourselves look good.
Purity of heart means to actively check our actions and to resist, indeed, not fall to the temptation of sinister motives. It means to seek always to do the right thing trusting that God will sort things out.
In 1981 there was woman who was effectively blind from birth. She could only see blurs and outlines, nothing was in focus. A surgeon was able, with today’s advances, to operate and restore her sight. The newspaper reported that, “She found that everything was ‘so much bigger and brighter’ than she ever imagined.”
IN THE SAME WAY, when we adopt these attitudes in our lives and sometimes even struggle to make them a part of our being, “everything is so much bigger and brighter, life is more robust than we can even imagine.” Life comes into focus. We start to see with so much more clarity. Jesus promised it right here–“we can see God”.
I think this is what blind and deaf Helen Keller meant when someone bluntly said to her, “Isn’t it terrible to be blind?” She responded, “Better to be blind and see with your heart, than to have two good eyes and see nothing.” Jesus’ words tell us how to get 20/20 “spiritual vision”.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”