1. free from anything of a different, inferior, or contaminating kind; free from extraneous matter.
2. unmodified by an admixture.
3. of unmixed descent or ancestry.
4. free from foreign or inappropriate elements.
5. clear; free from blemishes.
6. (of literary style) straightforward.
7. abstract or theoretical (opposed to applied).
8. without any discordant quality.
9. absolute; utter; sheer: to sing for pure joy.
10. being that and nothing else.
11. clean, spotless, or unsullied.
12. untainted with evil.
13. physically chaste.
14. ceremonially or ritually clean.
15. free of or without guilt.
16. independent of sense or experience.
1. Anatomy . a hollow, pumplike organ of blood circulation...
2. Zoology . a. the homologous structure in other vertebrates...
3. the center of the total personality, especially with reference to intuition, feeling, or emotion.
4. the center of emotion, especially as contrasted to the head as the center of the intellect.
5. capacity for sympathy; feeling; affection.
5. capacity for sympathy; feeling; affection.
6. spirit, courage, or enthusiasm.
7. the innermost or central part of anything.
7. the innermost or central part of anything.
8. the vital or essential part; core.
9. the breast or bosom: to clasp a person to one's heart.
10. a person (used especially in expressions of praise or affection): dear heart.
11. a conventional shape with rounded sides meeting in a point at the bottom and curving inward to a cusp at the top.
12. a red figure or pip of this shape on a playing card.
13. a card of the suit bearing such figures.
14. hearts, a. (used with a singular or plural verb ) the suit so marked: Hearts is trump. Hearts are trump.
b. (used with a singular verb ) a game in which the players try to avoid taking tricks containing this suit.
15. Botany . the core of a tree; the solid central part without sap or albumen.
Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.
What does it mean to have a pure heart? It means that the vital or essential part of you, your core, is free from any extraneous matter, that it is unmodified from the way God created it, that it is without any discordant quality, that it is free of guilt.
Sounds good, hey?
I propose that, with a pure heart, not only will we see God in heaven, but we will see God in our lives right here, right now. Living is so much easier, so much less burdensome, when we see God working in our lives and in the world around us.
Have you even been for a nature walk with a 4 year old? I have. It was so cool. One fall afternoon my daughter and I went on an adventure in the park behind our house. For a while we stuck to the paved bike path but then she decided that we needed to go off-roading along the narrow dirt trails through the brush. Letting go of my adult sensibilities I started to see the the wonders of nature through her 4 year old eyes. The beauty of a flower, the excitement of an ant scurrying along a log, the comforting chirp of birds. She had no fear, just a childlike amazement and wonder at the world around her. To her life was simple. It was pure. Try looking at life as a 4 year old does and things start to make sense; even if you don't understand it you have trust in and are secure that your Father in heaven is working all things out for your good.
What does it mean to have a pure heart? It means that the vital or essential part of you, your core, is free from any extraneous matter, that it is unmodified from the way God created it, that it is without any discordant quality, that it is free of guilt.
Sounds good, hey?
I propose that, with a pure heart, not only will we see God in heaven, but we will see God in our lives right here, right now. Living is so much easier, so much less burdensome, when we see God working in our lives and in the world around us.
Have you even been for a nature walk with a 4 year old? I have. It was so cool. One fall afternoon my daughter and I went on an adventure in the park behind our house. For a while we stuck to the paved bike path but then she decided that we needed to go off-roading along the narrow dirt trails through the brush. Letting go of my adult sensibilities I started to see the the wonders of nature through her 4 year old eyes. The beauty of a flower, the excitement of an ant scurrying along a log, the comforting chirp of birds. She had no fear, just a childlike amazement and wonder at the world around her. To her life was simple. It was pure. Try looking at life as a 4 year old does and things start to make sense; even if you don't understand it you have trust in and are secure that your Father in heaven is working all things out for your good. So how do we get this heart?
There really is only one way to be purified and that is by the blood of Jesus. He is the one who washed away our sins and gave us a fresh start. And just like anything that's worth having, we need to work for it.
Keeping our heart pure is simple and straighforward - be wholehearted in our relationship with God. God says that to love him is to obey his commands. And what are the greatest command? To love him with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul and all our strength. There is no room for half-heartedness. In the book of Revelation Jesus told the church at Laodicea that he would spit them out of his mouth because they were luke-warm, half-hearted.
And Satan will do everything in his power to make us halfhearted and lukewarm.
Matthew 6:24 says that no one can serve two masters - either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. There is no half & half option. God either has our whole heart or he doesn't have it at all.
Jeremiah wrote that "the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. who can understand it?" The heart is the place where our emotions reside. And emotions, quite honestly, Satan can manipulate very easily. It's beyond cure because we will never in this life be free from the fight to keep our emotions godly. Satan knows this and that's where he attacks. And his favourite weapon to use is the world.
The lure of the world can be so strong. As much as we were born with eternity in our heart, the world has been engrained into us from the moment we took our first breath. There will always be a battle in our heart between the understanding that God loves us and wants to spend eternity with us and the desire we have to satisfy our worldly cravings right here, right now.
The only way we can protect ourselves against the deceit in our heart is by fighting to keep our heart whole and on God's side, through reading and prayer and meditation and keeping our spiritual family close. Read; The word of God will judge the thoughts and attitudes of your heart and God will wash you with water through the word. Pray; we need to beg God to create in us a pure heart and renew his steadfast spirit within us. Meditate on the fruits of the Spirit until they are just as engrained and a part of you as breathing is. Ditch your pride and share your life and your struggles with your spiritual family. Alone you are easy pickings but, as we all know, a cord of three strands is not easily broken. Don't keep sin secreted away in your heart - be open with it and bring it into the light so God can take it away. Encourage one another daily so none of us may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Guard your heart, the core of your being, because it is the wellspring of your life. Everything that you think and say and do comes from here. When your heart is pure, everything in your life will be pure.
But the fight will be over before it's begun if you don't give it your all. Give God your whole heart and he will purify it for you and you will see him, not only in heaven, but in your life NOW.
This blog was inspired by chapter 11 of the book Pursuing Purity and Spiritual Beauty by Virginia Lefler.
