“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)
We can glimpse God’s beauty in nature and sometimes in people, but overall the history of man has been less than pure and beautiful. The tragic story told in Genesis 3-11 seems to be a blueprint of the human history that followed.
Meaning this: purity of heart is the last phrase we would use to describe the condition of our world.
Matthew describes the world into which Jesus came as dark. Hypocrisy, violence, deception, betrayal, slavery, divorce, broken relationships. He quotes Isaiah, “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, and those sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a Light dawned.”
Imagine hearing Jesus teach and for the first time, you hear that there is a way to experience purity of heart. Remember, this isn’t Jesus’ starting point. He started with our coming into touch with how impure our hearts are, which is what “poor in spirit” means. Our felt neediness is always where the Messiah meets us.
He is taking us on a journey in which each step leads us into more and more light. It’s almost as if each new “Blessing” opens up more revelation and readies us for the next step.
Everyone hungers and thirsts for something, right? Health, joy, peace, security, fulfillment, control, satisfaction—these all speak to the human condition. But here Jesus introduces the most radical countercultural hunger in the world: a great longing to share God’s character qualities, His righteousness. This is true light!
The search for righteousness leads to the one source: Christ Himself. Listen to Paul explain this, “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus who was made unto us wisdom from God: righteousness, sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). In other words, it’s a gift!
The righteousness we so desperately need is downloaded to us through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul describes how this works in Romans 1:17, “For in it [the gospel], the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith,” which becomes a way of life.
Desiring to have pure motives is truly alien to our culture. Who really wants purity of heart? Only those who have been following Jesus on the journey. Living into His blessings brings a joy and freedom so unexpected.
The real you was created to have purity of heart, to be free from the inner compulsions that have misled you countless times. His love received is the power that not only forgives us but transforms our heart desires. To be relieved of hate and the desire to pay back brings the most incredible sense of freedom! Savoring this little-known freedom means I never want to lose it.
Does this mean that we arrive at purity of heart as our new permanent condition? Not yet, but by following Him our hearts are being radically changed. I vividly remember the first two sins God removed from my heart: cursing and lust! He not only forgave me, but He set me free. I have the joy of living in the purity He created within me.
Purity of heart is to will the same thing Christ does. Each new work in our heart brings fresh joy and freedom. For example, God wants us to forgive everyone who hurts us, but when He started working in us we probably housed a lot of unforgiveness and bitterness. Step by step, He shines His light so that we can see what was hidden and walk with Him into freedom. We are growing in this purity as He changes our hearts.
Shortly before the cross Jesus prayed, “and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:26). To be constantly receiving His love changes everything in us. It reorients us to living life His way.
No wonder huge crowds were drawn to walk long distances, go without food, and take great risks to listen to words that literally came from another world. I like to think that as they listened, their hearts tasted His purity and experienced God as never before! Light does that.
This is part six of the Eight Fold Path Series.. If you’ve just arrived to this blog post, you’re invited to skip back to the beginning and read them in consecutive order.
Let’s take stock together. In your journal, take some time each day this week (or when you think of it). Ask yourself, “What have I been hungering and thirsting for today? This week? This year?”
How much of this feels like it’s coming from God? What you may find in this process are indicators of places in your life where your desires are either in or out of alignment with God’s desires. We’re looking at signposts again, and each one we find is an opportunity to change direction and step decisively towards God’s intentions for our lives.
So, add this to your journal too: Are there any course-corrections or practical responses you hear God inviting you into for this season?
Yours on the path,
Jerry
This blog series begins with 8-Fold Path: The Way Out of Darkness, and is excerpted from Jerry Daley’s book on the Beatitudes, entitled Following Jesus Into the Blessing.
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