Tag Archives: Matt5:8

Pure in Heart – Sat – 21-10-02

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Have you ever seen a painting that you admire? I’m sure you have. I am amazed at the skill of artists. They can combine paints of different colors onto a canvas and create fascinating, even striking, images. One of the things artists understand is contrast. To capture the effect of light splashing from a window, they often paint it in a dark scene. The contrast of the deeper colors makes the shaft of light depicted pop from the canvas. Some artists are renowned for the depiction of light.

Understanding a contrast can also be helpful in understanding the Beatitude in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (NIV) A contrast is found 2 Timothy 2:22. It says, “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” (NIV) In the passage, the evil desires of youth contrast with the pure in heart.

So what are these evil desires? 1 Peter 4:4 lists several, including, “debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.” (NIV) These are the darker colors that reveal the light of a pure heart.

As we leave this Beatitude, I encourage you to care for the needy and keep yourself unstained from evil desires. Remember that God is the source of forgiveness and transformation. Follow him in faith!

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Pure in Heart – Fri – 21-10-01

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“What do you want?” People answer that question many ways. Some want to lose weight. Others want a new job. Some want to find a boyfriend or girlfriend. Perhaps a better question is, “What do you want badly enough you will change your behavior?”

Jesus said in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (NIV) Do you want to have a pure heart? Or should I say, do you want a pure heart badly enough to change your behavior?

So how can we have a pure heart? Obviously, we need to turn to God and seek his forgiveness. But is a pure heart automatic? I don’t think so.

In 1 Timothy 1:5 Paul said, “The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” So, what was the command he referred to? Paul mentioned it in verses 3 and 4, “. . . stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith.” (NIV)

If we want a pure heart, we have to avoid false ideas. These ideas are in schools, universities and much of the culture. Faith in God, not false ideas,  is what develops love from a pure heart.

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Pure in Heart – Thu – 21-09-30

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For much of my life, people have been concerned about the environment. I remember news stories about environmental disasters, such as Love Canal, New York, and Times Beach, Missouri and Bhopal, India. Pollution made the areas unlivable. I also remember the Exxon Valdez oil tanker that spilled millions of gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound.

What about you? Do you remember when a certain over-the-counter medication was poisoned? I’m sure you are aware of all the food recalls because of e. coli or some other bacteria contamination. A few years ago, you couldn’t go to a restaurant and order a salad because all the lettuce was contaminated!

Purity is critically important in many things! The government has spent billions of dollars cleaning up toxic waste. Companies have spent millions of dollars recalling contaminated food and products. Companies spend a lot of time and money on quality processes to ensure the purity of food and medication. In fact, government regulation requires these efforts.

One other area where purity is vitally important is religion. As James 1:27 says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (NIV)

Is this a practical description of the Beatitude about being pure in heart? It seems to fit. We should be generous to the needy and avoid the moral pollution of this world.

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Pure in Heart – Wed – 21-09-29

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“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God,” says the Beatitude in Matthew 5:8. We’ve learned that the word pure means clean. And we know that the word heart refers to the entire inner being. But I see a problem, do you?

Proverbs 20:9 puts it this way, “Who can say, ‘I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin’?” (NIV) I know I haven’t kept my heart pure! I bet the same is true for you. Jesus called out the Pharisees because they thought they were good, moral people. He called them “white-washed tombs.”

So what are we to do? How can we be blessed if our hearts are not pure? James 4:7-8 tells us, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (NIV)

James is telling us to change our direction. He uses the idea of washing, not as a ritual, but as our appeal to God for forgiveness. God is the one who can forgive and cleanse our conscience. Having a pure heart is totally dependent on God. We must have the attitude of David in Psalm 51:10. He said, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (NIV) That is the path to blessing!

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Pure in Heart – Tue – 21-09-28

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People often like rituals. One of my favorite baseball players has a specific ritual when he steps up to bat. He tucks the bat under his arm and tightens each batting glove. Then he takes the bat and flips it in his hand. He then taps the toe of his right shoe, then his left, then his right. He steps into the batter’s box and takes a couple of swings. Then, just before the pitch, he does a little wiggle with his upper body. It is quite a sight! He is a good player, but his ritual does not make him good.

When Jesus spoke the Beatitude in Matthew 5:8, I wonder if he had rituals in mind. He said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (NIV) You see, the Pharisees in Jesus’ day had a lot of rituals. They thought their rituals made them good, moral people. They were wrong. Listen to Luke 11:39-41, “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.’” (NIV)

Being pure in heart is not about outward rituals, whether they are devotional habits, church attendance or giving offerings. It is about purity in our inner self.

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Pure in Heart – Mon – 21-09-27

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This week, the podcast is focused on the Beatitude found in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”* What is the heart that must be pure?

The word can refer the physical organ. However, that is not the meaning here. It is used in different ways in the New Testament.

First it is the place of emotions. Romans 9:2 speaks of great sorrow and anguish in the heart. In Luke 7:13, Jesus sees a widow who had lost her only son. It says, “his heart went out to her.” This usage echoes common usage of the word heart today. People pledge to love each other with all their heart.

Second, it is used for the place of thought and understanding. Mark 7:21 says, “For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come.” And Acts 8:22 says, “Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.” We usually use the word mind for this, rather than the word heart.

Finally, the word heart describes our will or decision-making self. 2 Corinthians 9:7 says, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give.”

So, to paraphrase the Beatitude, blessed are those who are pure in their entire inner being, for they will see God.

*All Scripture from the NIV.

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Pure in Heart – Sun – 21-09-26

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My mother tells a story about me. I don’t remember it, but on the last day of school in second grade, my teacher read a poem to the class. The poem was all about the joys of summer for a child. You know, going barefoot – that sort of thing.  I must have taken the poem to heart! It seems one of the joys mentioned was not needing to take baths. Mom says that she had to work hard to convince me at the beginning of that summer to bathe! It didn’t matter what my teacher had read! Mrs. Fuller wanted her boy to get clean!

This concept of being clean is in the Beatitude found in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (NIV) The word pure basically means clean. The same word is used in Matthew 27:59 to describe the linen cloth Joseph of Arimathea used to wrap the body of Jesus for burial. It was a clean cloth.

We understand what clean means when we think of clothing. It means no dirt, no stains, no spots of any kind. We can purchase all kinds of products to clean our clothes – or our bodies and our hair. We also know how important cleanliness is to food preparation, drug manufacturing and medical procedures.

With all this emphasis on outward cleanliness, have we missed the importance of our hearts? Remember, focus on being pure in heart!

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Bumper music “Landing Place” performed by Mark July, used under license from Shutterstock.