Matthew 5.8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
Meekness, mercy, purity – these are not the way to popularity, influence and affluence in our culture. But they are the essential qualities of the Kingdom of God, that inner world where God rules in our hearts. The pure of heart are those who know they are sinners, know they are forgiven, and know the love of God in Jesus – and in seeing Jesus, they see and come to know God.
“Create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” These words of David would be deeply familiar to Jesus, the Son of David. The pure in heart is the person whose heart is clean and whose spirit is made right.
In biblical terms the heart is more than that physiological organ that keeps us alive by beating approximately every second of our lives. The heart is the centre of the affections, the starting place of our motivations, one of the governors of our behaviour and actions. When we choose and decide and think, we form our attitudes, our character and our values. The heart is the debating chamber where we decide what matters, and what matters most to us.
So we have a prayer: “Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me.” And we have a promise: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. How do we move from that prayer that knows the heart is sinful, to that promise that knows the heart can be cleansed and made pure?
As Christians we get it wrong, often. Christians of all people know they are sinners, and serial offenders at that. How to have a pure heart? The 80 something year old Apostle John knew the problem, and in his pastoral letter to the wee house groups in Ephesus he wrote: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
So there it is. Blessed are the pure in heart, the promise to those who know to pray “Create in me a clean heart O God.” And the promise to those who know that if we sin, - and however hard we try not to, we do – if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive and cleanse us.
Just as I am - Thy love unknown Has broken every barrier down;
Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, -O Lamb of God, I come!
Just as I am - of that free love, the breadth, length, depth, and height to prove,
Here for a season, then above, -O Lamb of God, I come!
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