Anchor My Faith

The Pure in Heart

Scripture: Matthew 5:8

Each one of these beatitudes we cover adds more to our understanding of the nature of life in the kingdom. These unnatural characteristics will be common normal expressions of our lives in the coming kingdom. We are born into this world with a natural body, but as believers we will be raised a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:44). These spiritual bodies will find it normal to live out these beatitudes that Jesus is teaching about.

The next beatitude we come to is: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Going back to Geneses 6:5 (ESV), we find a problem with the heart: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” This is amplified in Romans 3:10 – 12 (ESV): “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” All of us are born into this world with an evil heart and until we are born spiritually we will seek our own will and turn away from God.

Apart from the new birth, it is impossible to acquire a pure heart. At the new birth, when we are born spiritually, we are first justified; made right before God. That is the beginning, as we enter into the process of sanctification in which the heart of flesh is transformed into a pure heart as we walk with Jesus Christ in a personal relationship through faith. This transformation process is not easy or quick, but will require much hard work over a life time as God transforms us and then when we are raised a spiritual body, the process will be complete.

This transformation process is not possible without the new or spiritual birth and it is that birth that allows the change of heart and it is that new birth that allows us to see God. Here on earth we are prevented from seeing God clearly, but one-day heaven will open to us and we will see clearly as indicated in 1 John 3:2 (ESV): “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” We will be transformed to be like him and we will see him as he is.

The question before us is, “How important is this transformation process of developing with God a pure heart?” How does that desire compare to other desires we have? I am not sure it ranks very high on the list of desires among western Christians. This is evident by comparing our lifestyle with those of the world.

Prayer

Father, we need to confess our sin and turn toward and walk with Jesus with a growing desire for a pure hears. Father, we need to be willing to pay the price to build into our lives the characteristics Jesus is speaking about in these beatitudes. We need to seek the benefits of these characteristics.