Don’t Miss Out—Make The Beatitudes—Your “BE-attitudes!”  PART 7- Pure in Heart

Thus far, we’ve learned that we will be BLESSED if our “BE-attitudes;” that is, “attitudes for living” reflect that we: 

1. Are “poor in spirit,” that is, completely dependent upon God; 

2. “Mourn,” that is, have a strong aversion for sin;

3. Are “meek,” that is, submit our will to God so His strength courses freely through us; 

4. Hunger and thirst for righteousness; and

5. Are merciful.

These beatitudes of Jesus engage us in His blessings. Yesterday, we learned that God’s mercy surrounds us; and if we desire to maximize this blessing, Jesus shows us how in the next beatitude: 

“Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.”

Matthew 5:8

Don’t you want to SEE as MUCH of God as is humanly possible??? 

When I look around at all the delight God has created, I wonder at His BEAUTY. When I study the intricacies of the heavens or even a single cell and marvel at how all of creation functions with more perfection than the most intricate man-made machine—I desire to know God’s MIND. When I think of His great sacrifice to save my soul—I desire to know God’s LOVE and MERCY. God created us to be attracted to beauty, intelligence, love, peace, and joy—all things created by GOD. So when we SEE God more clearly, it follows that it will maximize our enjoyment of what we love.  

So how does being pure in heart help us see God?

Consider this: Why is a newborn baby’s smile a delight to even a stranger? Isn’t it because of the desire we have to experience purity? When a baby smiles at you, he has no agenda—just an inner delight at seeing another human’s face. And that baby has the power to make even the crustiest old woman smile. I remember an incident with a man who was a professed atheist. He had an encounter with my grandbaby as I was singing a little song I wrote for her about Jesus. The chorus is: “I love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love you.” She was giggling and singing: “lub, lub, lub,” along with me. The neighbor wanted to interact so badly he started singing, too! It was adorable. He was attracted to the purity of her heart and he wanted to experience it. He didn’t know it but—God placed a longing inside him for the purity of His heart that—he was seeing in her.

In this beatitude, Jesus is sharing the remarkable opportunity we have to experience the greatest longing of our heart—the purity which enables us to see Him. He is the fountain of all we desire…and we often don’t even know this because we don’t know Him for who He says He is. 

It is only when we have been deceived by our enemies about who God is that we lack the passionate desire to see God.

But Jesus, in this remarkable beatitude, gave us the prescription for what we need in order to be able to see God. When we are born again, we are enabled to be pure in heart. Jesus is talking about purity that works from the inside out. What is inside of us eventually comes out. We cannot fake the fruits of GOD’s Spirit. And while we all want to RECEIVE pure love, joy, peace, kindness, and compassion—how often do we find someone who generously GIVES these priceless gifts? 

The fruits of God’s Spirit are the gifts reserved for born again believers who are willing to sacrifice their fleshly desires to become pure in heart.

Purity in heart is reflected in someone who is completely sincere in their relationship with God. He is their center. He is the center of their heart’s greatest desire. This is different from someone who just appears outwardly righteous. Spurgeon wrote of this beatitude:

“Christ was dealing with men’s spirits, with their inner and spiritual nature. He did this more or less in all the BE-atitudes, and this one strikes the very center of the target as he says, not ‘Blessed are the pure in language, or the pure in action,’ much less ‘Blessed are the pure in ceremonies, or in raiment, or in food;’ but ‘Blessed are the pure in heart.’” 

When Jesus is at the center of our desires, we would rather lose everything than live even one day without His presence. 

The intimacy experienced with God is a greater experience than we can imagine. Purity in heart brings us into the experience of the fruits of God’s Spirit and takes us AWAY from the works of the flesh which are described in Galatians 5:19-21:

“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like…”

Who wants to live in these experiences??? These polluting sins are a miserable hell. When we are born again, we don’t have to live this way.  As we allow God’s presence to purify our heart, the eyes of our soul are opened and we begin to SEE Him everywhere—in nature, in Scripture, in other born-again believers, in little children, etc. It’s remarkable!

When an intimate relationship with God is our great passion, He purifies our heart. He already desires us. He honors our desire for Him by strengthening our inner man and helps us overcome our enemies. 

A pure heart opens the eyes of our soul to behold the beauty and glory of God.