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Some clouds. Low 67F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Some clouds. Low 67F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.

How would we apply the words of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, beginning with the Beatitudes, to our daily life? This week we look at Matthew 5, verse 8: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

What does it mean to be pure in heart? Billy Graham said of this, “A pure heart is a reflection of doing what God wants us to do. Our inner being is the root of all our actions. From our hearts come our motives, our desires, our goals, and our emotions.”

I like that. How good it would be for us to focus on our inner being, to mine the depths of who we are and whose we are. When we look at the Greek, we find “καθαρός.” The transliteration of “καθαρός” is katharos, which means clean, pure, unstained, either literally, ceremonially or spiritually, guiltless, innocent, upright. Whoa! There are a lot of layers there for us to unpack. How do we arrive at katharos in our own life? God makes us pure through Jesus. “The blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).” It is the righteousness of Christ that makes us clean and pure.

Reaching back to the Old Testament, we hear the emotional words of David in Psalm 51: “Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence; take not your Holy Spirit from me.” (Psalm 51:9-11)

David is remorseful for the sin he committed against Uriah with Bathsheba. David wants to be clean in the eyes of God, after all, David is the apple of God’s eye. David goes as far to say, “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings (Psalm 17:8).” David was always striving to be in the good graces of God, clean and pure. Sometimes David tried too hard when all God desires is our heart of faith. When we give God our heart God makes us clean. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

When we seek to be pure in heart, we begin to have clarity to see God, for “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Seeing God. We need know that this does not mean we will physically “see” God. Moses found that out in Exodus when the Lord told him, “man shall not see me and live (Exodus 33:20).” However, Moses did “feel” the glory of the Lord pass by him, so we might know that Moses “spiritually saw” God and realized God’s presence. 

When a person lives with the guilt of sin, it is difficult to walk closely with God. Instead, the scripture teaches, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you (James 4:8).” When we live out our faith we too will “see God” in the sense that we can more clearly understand his plans for our lives and walk in a way that pleases God and helps others. The Beatitudes draw us in that beautiful direction, turning us from our old ways, transforming us into a new creation, that we too may be the apple of God’s eye.

To gain a pure heart and see God, we need to guard our hearts, for they are the wellspring of life and life eternal (Proverbs 4:23).

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