Coffee with Jesus

Coffee with Jesus

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Matthew 5:8 (The Pure in Heart)

Purity today does not mean what it used to.  A white wedding dress does not symbolize a virgin purity the way it used to, and at least in my generation, if you are "pure" you are considered to be nerdy, a goodie two-shoes, or less than.  It's as if purity is equated with weakness on some levels.  But that's not what Jesus said about purity...

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."
First of all, it's important for us to know that in Hebrew, the "heart" included all that was inside you -- you mind, your feelings, your will.  That basically includes all of you except your actions. But as Matthew says later in chapter 15, "out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander."  And in chapter 12, "out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks," be it good or bad.  We think that our hearts are automatically pure, but they are not.  Our hearts are automatically evil from the moment we are born, and we should not trust our hearts.  They will deceive us.  We need to trust the Holy Spirit in us.

So what does a pure heart look like?  You have no hidden agendas -- just one goal -- and that is to live for Christ.  You are purely devoted to Him, and you live transparently so others can see the work He's doing in you.

And so how do you see God?  Well, no one has seen God (according to John 1:18).  So, you may not see Him with your physical eyes just yet, but He will bless you with visions of Him and a knowledge and understanding of who He really is.  These are the privileges granted to the angels -- and the pure in heart. 

And some day soon, you will see Him face to face...

No comments:

Post a Comment