Bulletin Articles
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”
Whether it’s our drinking water, the food we eat or the air we breathe, we understand contamination is harmful to our bodies. We can easily become obsessed with ingesting only the finest and purest food and water, and if we’re not careful, this can become an idol. But what about the contamination of our heart? Do we obsess with its purity as much as or more than our body? Jesus provides some perspective:
Matthew 15:17-20
“Don’t you realize that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated? But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a person. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slander. These are things that defile a person, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”
Jesus, our King, makes a powerful promise. If we work at keeping our heart free from contaminants like He listed above, we will see God. What does He mean by this…”we will see God?” Doesn’t John the Baptist say in John 1:18, “No one has ever seen God?” Doesn’t God, Himself, say to Moses in Exodus 33:20, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live?” Perhaps the answer is in the word “will.”
Keeping our heart pure certainly comes with blessings in this life. Personally, I like this one—Proverbs 22:11, “The one who loves a pure heart and gracious lips—the king is his friend.” What we can know with certainty is that after this life, the blessing of a pure heart is to see our Father—to be in His presence, at last, and forever.
The battle and struggle to guard our heart from sin and the stains of this world are worth it now and when our life here is finished. Someday the trumpet will sound and the Lord shall descend. We’ll be clothed in His brightness and transported to Him in clouds of the sky. And on that morning of joy, we’ll be gathered to His glory…with a new spirit-flesh no longer corruptible, no longer able to be contaminated, forever pure, ready for our portion and inheritance in heaven with our Father (1 Thess 4 & 1 Cor 15). That’s the promise of our King, Jesus.
1 John 3:2-3
“Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure."
