Have We Got Pure Heart?

As I write this, looking out the window, there are lovely displays of Santas, and angels, and snowmen.  Of course, I’m describing December with Christmas scenes, gift giving, family feasting and most people being kind! 

As I was reading through the Gospels, I came across the story of our Master, telling His followers, “Blessed are the Pure in Heart, for they will see God.”  What does that mean?  We all want to see God (not just a baby in the manger) but seeing God.  Is that even possible?  How can that be?  What did Jeshua really mean?  What is being Pure In Heart?

When attending church or wherever you worship, do you feel as though something is missing?  We all want to feel more spiritual.  Sometimes we feel as though God isn’t really interested in us.  Our quality time with Him seems a perfunctory thing.  Our prayers reaching only the ceiling.  It’s almost like a marriage that’s gone cold.  We have drifted apart.

In the days of Jeshua, the Pharisees were obsessed with ritual purity.  It’s into this context that Yeshua spoke saying, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”  This takes purity to a whole new level.  He isn’t talking about the physical state of being clean or unclean.  He is speaking about a pure heart.  Where do we get this pure heart?

Heart in the Hebrew context also means your Thinker, not your Feeler.  What you are thinking about others is as important as what you do.   

With this thought in mind the Lord tells what sins of the heart defile a person.  In Matthew 15:18-20 we read………“But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and this defiles a person.  For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” 

‘Blessed are the Pure in heart, for they will see God. Whoever has seen me has seen the Father“
(John 24:9 )

Again, it’s a heart thing.  We can obtain that pure heart by the spiritual transformation of our hope in who Yeshua really is.  We pray in His name.  Not because we deserve what we pray for but because He is the righteous One and prays on our behalf. 

When Jeshua encountered the leper, He asked him, “What do you want?” The Leper did not say,” I want to be healed” He said, “I want to be clean.” 

So, we must say, “Master, I want to be clean.  Cleanse my heart.”

“Create in me a clean heart, Oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.”  (Psalm 51:10-12)

                        May you and I receive that blessing of a pure heart!