Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Matthew 5:8
I really love and appreciate that these beatitudes really line up with each other. It’s a continuation of a theme. Layer upon layer of actions to shape us into the kind of human beings we were meant to be. They type of people we have the potential to be.
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The other thing I really love is that when you really dig into each verse, at some point you kind of tell yourself “DUH”. Or is that just me? I have this conversation with myself asking why I didn’t realize the truth before or what took me so long to realize or how did I miss the obvious connection for so long.
The Matthew Henry Commentary called this beatitude the most comprehensive of the beatitude. That’s really true. If you have a pure heart, you will obviously be doing or working towards all the ones before. Meaning you already know who you are and who God is. You already are striving to see things through the lens of how God sees things.
Let’s see what the Greek word for pure is.
pure – katharos – figuratively; spiritually clean because purged (purified by God) i.e. free from the contaminating or soiling influences of sin.
ethically; free from corrupt desire, from sin and guilt.
We are purified by God through Jesus. Let’s remember that. In his mercy he gave us the undeserved gift of the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. That is taken care of. So we need to just get going on the pure of heart thing. In theory it seems real easy to do…in practice, not so much.
When I hear or read “pure of heart” I think about David and Psalm 51. Mostly because I know two songs that reference it. (Pure Heart by Judy Martin Hess and Psalm 51 (Wisdom in the Secret Heart) by Shane & Shane)
This must be the reason I decided to skip over Psalm 51 when we were studying the Psalms. David just gets it right. Mind you he wrote this after the big mistake of Bathsheba. (2 Samuel 11 and 12) David says, “I have sinned against the Lord.” (2 Samuel 12:13) And he says in Psalm 51:4 “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.” He recognizes his sin and immediately confesses. That is step in one in getting a pure heart. Seeing what God sees as evil as evil, and then stop doing it and then confess and then do better. David then shows us how really get a pure heart…ask God for it. “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (verse 10)
This is revolutionary. Ask God for help. The help to be more like him. The help to live into the potential of all he created for you. The help to have a pure heart.
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