Cultivating a Pure Heart (9.14.17)

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see GOD. - Matthew 5:8

Once a father told his child to sit down. The child refused. Again the father told his child to sit down, and again the child stubbornly refused. Finally, the father said, “If you don’t sit down I’m going to give you a spanking.” The child sat down and said, “I’m sitting down on the outside, but I’m still standing up on the inside!”

This story reminds me of what Jesus said to the Jewish leaders:

You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me…’ - Matthew 15:7-8

Outwardly they honored GOD. They sang songs and prayed and tithed. But they had no love for GOD. Their hearts – their inner persons – were impure – they acted religious to be noticed by men, not to please GOD.  They were hypocrites. The word hypocrite comes from a word meaning actor. A hypocrite is an actor, a pretender. They professes some value or belief, however their private life does not match what they are portraying. They are not pure in heart. So, to be pure in heart means our words must match our thoughts. It means that our outer life matches our inner life. 

When GOD saves us he gives us a new heart.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. - Ezekiel 36:26-27 

GOD will give us a new heart, a heart that wants to follow and obey him as the Holy Spirit motivate us to sincere obedience. A friend once requested I hold him accountable for an issue he was struggling with. He sincerely wanted to please Jesus and did not want to sin when no one else was watching.

To be pure in heart doesn’t mean we never sin. But it means that now, we don’t want to sin, it makes us uncomfortable. We hate when we do it, and are grateful for Jesus’ constant cleansing (1 John 1:9).

A few ways to cultivate a pure heart:

• Read your Bible regularly for it convicts, warns and encourages us.

• Ask GOD for inner purity. David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart.” Regularly ask GOD to deliver you from evil and temptation.

• Be careful what you take in through your eyes and ears. Flee temptation always.

• Fellowship – confess your struggles and temptations and ask for the prayers of one or a few wise, trustworthy believers. 

The reward for pursuing purity? “They shall see GOD.”

Beloved, we are GOD’s children 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. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure - 1 John 3:2-3.

Because of our glorious hope to see Jesus, the infinitely pure one, face to face, we should purify ourselves now, by the power of the Holy Spirit.