In ancient Celtic mythology there was a belief that there are certain places, called thin places, where the world of the seen and the world of the unseen came into closest proximity. In each of the beatitudes, Jesus points us to a kind of thin place, a place on earth where we draw closer to heaven. Surprisingly, these are lowly, humble places, each one of them repulsive in some way to the ego of man. Not one of them is a place that you or I would seek to visit in our search for a happy and meaningful life. But Jesus proposes that the treasures of the
The lowly place to begin with is our heart, because that is the place where our true person or inner man resides. God wants to change us from the inside out. Jesus often talked about the heart in his preaching, one of the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount is about the blessedness of a pure heart. Matt 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” In other words “True blessings will flow from the inside out. Why did Jesus place so much emphasis on the heart? What does it mean to be pure in heart? What is the meaning of the word blessed? If the purity of heart is required to see God then how are we to purify our hearts? Let’s begin by talking about why our heart matters most.
I. WHY DOES THE HEART MATTER FOR GOD?
We live in a high performance and achievement world. What matters for most is to get to the top regardless how you get there. We bought into a lie of thinking that being hugely famous, popular and successful is everything in life. In the rush of climbing to the top many compromise moral laws placed by God such as, honesty, integrity, loyalty, moral purity, and the fear of God, The latest John Edward’s scandal brought to the fore the deceptive idea that, “as long as I don’t break the law publicly who cares about what goes on in my personal life? Well God cares more about our personal purity and integrity than our public performance. God never was, is and will be impressed by what the world calls the most successful or influential people (like Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people) instead He dwells in a heart that is contrite and broken before Him.
During Jesus’ time the Pharisees were the people at the top. They looked good on the outside like the white washed tombs but were rotten on the inside, looked gentle on the outside like sheep but were ravenous wolves on the inside. Jesus was not impressed by their outward appearance or behavior. In the same way we too are good in keeping up appearances, but we can’t fool God, he sees us through and through. The scripture says God does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance or performance but the Lord looks at the heart. Keeping that as a background let’s look at the sixth beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8 let me break this into three parts: 1.The state of Blessedness 2. The Purity of Heart. 3. Seeing God.
II. THE STATE OF
All the nine beatitudes promise a state of blessedness followed by certain conditions. If we are to pick and choose one among the beatitudes, probably for most people it would be this sixth beatitude. It seems the most appealing but at the same time the most unattainable one. We hardly know which is more beyond us, is it the condition or the promise, the purity of heart or seeing God? But in reality both are attainable with God’s help and a little bit of discipline.
The word “blessed” occurs over 230 times in the bible. It is often referred to God bestowing special favor upon his people, specially the righteous one. In Greek the word blessed means to be characterized by the quality of God, blessedness is when one is indwelt by God, and God’s nature is in him, he has the kingdom of God within him(Lk 17:21). It means fully satisfied. This satisfaction however is not due to the circumstances of life nor the fulfillment of the conditions prescribed in these beatitudes.
In some translations we read “happy” instead of “blessed” which is a poor translation because happiness is connected with luck, or what happens to us where as the blessedness that the Bible describes doesn’t necessarily depend on material things or what happens to us. It is that basic condition created by Christ’s indwelling in man’s heart which brings a fundamental satisfaction in the life of a believer. You can be happy without Christ but you can’t be blessed without God. I would rather have Christ living in me than to have all the riches or being popular in the world. We can only achieve the state of this blessedness by having a pure heart
III. BEING PURE IN HEART:
For a modern mind words like holiness or purity are considered as ancient words. At times it seems hard to fit in when you try to live a clean life, it is not cool. But if you are proud, rude and inconsiderate you are considered strong and macho. You may have been ridiculed by people when you tried to do the right thing, for example declining a cigarette or a drink at a party or refusing to be promiscuous. People may reject or scorn you for your high morals, but that is the only way we can ever please God. The Bible says, without Holiness no one shall see God.
Why is it so important to get our hearts cleaned up? Because it is in the heart everything first begins. If we harbor bitterness, resentment and unforgiveness in our heart towards people; it will show up some how or the other either in our words or our actions. Matthew 15:18-19, “But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart and these make a man, unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” When Jesus said blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God he meant that we will work on developing clean thoughts, pure emotions and we want to do his will rather than wanting to do our will. We honor him with our words, thoughts and deeds. When we do that the ultimate blessing is that we will see God. What is meant by seeing God?
The desire to see God has been the age long goal of prophets, philosophers and saints but this beatitude promises more than mere vision. Perhaps our deepest wish, if we could analyze our longing is to see God. When Christ said that the pure in heart shall see God, he more likely meant that the pure in heart see God in the world about them, when others are blind; that the pure in heart are aware of the movements of the divine will in their lives even in the midst of pain, when others are rebellious or despairing; that the pure in heart have by intuition the leading of God’s spirit when others miss it. In other words the pure in heart will see God in all things.
Seeing God is not only limited to this present world, but there will come a day the pure in heart will literally see God face to face when Christ returns. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. (Rev 22:2). The blessedness of having God’s presence with us is a direct result of having a clean heart, how are we then to acquire and maintain a pure heart?
Purity of heart is not achieved by a one time resolution or a prayer but it is a life long process. We can begin that process today by confessing our sins and continually guarding our hearts according to the scriptures. We confess the big things but tend to neglect the small stuff such as twisting the truth to our convenience, lying, controlling, exaggerating, manipulating, jealousy, lust, envy, and anger the list goes on. However innocent they may look in the beginning in the end they have the potential to ruin our personal testimony and our families if they are left unchecked. In Song of songs 2:15 we read “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom. Here the vineyard is our heart. When our hearts are right with God we will experience Joy and peace with Him and with one another. My prayer is that the Lord would transform us from the inside out so that we not only experience His blessedness but also become a blessing to many. Amen
