A Pure Heart (09-28-15)

This is also a profound and powerful spiritual principle. Jesus made the statement, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8) The Hebrew word for “pure” (on which Jesus builds this saying) is used to describe things like liquids without mixtures (for example, milk or wine unadulterated with water); things like metals without alloys, an army without defectors, grain that has been sifted and cleansed of chaff, a person free of debt, and a sacrificial animal without blemish or defect. “Pure.” In other words, the word means unmixed, unadulterated, undistorted, undivided, completely focused.

What’s Jesus’ point? One Bible translation defines purity as single-mindedness. “Blessed are they who are not double-minded, for they shall be admitted into the intimate presence of God.” Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish theologian and statesman, defined it this way: “Purity of heart is to will one thing.” In the context of this saying by Jesus, what is that one thing? God.

Here’s the point: you only see what you have in your heart. So if you want to see God, you have to have God in your heart and mind. Only those with a single-minded focus and passion to know God will be able to connect with God. The pure in heart.

Jesus was probably quoting from the Old Testament when He spoke those words. The book of songs called Psalms says, “Who may go up on the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy Temple?” (Psalm 24:3-4) In other words, this question is really, Who is able to have access to God’s presence? Who will really see God?

The passage continues: “Only those with clean hands and pure hearts.” (Verse 4) Sounds like a saying of Jesus. But what does it mean? Is this suggesting that only those who are sinless, who have attained to a perfect moral purity, who never make mistakes, will be able to see God?

Notice how the parallelism in this verse defines that phrase: “Only those with clean hands and pure hearts, who have not worshiped idols, who have not made promises in the name of a false god.” (Verse 4)

What’s the point? A pure heart is one that is devoted singularly to God. It’s one that has no idols or competitors to God set up to take God’s place. It’s a heart which refuses to allow distractions to block a view of God. Seeking God is the number one priority and passion.

And what is the promise in this Psalm for the pure heart? “They will receive a blessing from the Lord; the God who saves them will declare them right.” (Verse 5) In other words, they have the privilege of enjoying intimacy with God, a right and good relationship with God. They see God for who God really is because nothing is allowed to distract their view. And therefore they have the joy of enjoying God. Their spirituality is alive and well and healthy and growing.

You won’t see birds in your yard until you have birds in your heart. You only see what you have in your heart. Only the single-minded focus for God will facilitate an experience with God.

John Ogilvie (author and spiritual leader) once met a man who earned his living as what he called an attention getter. That caught John’s interest. “What do you mean?” John asked.

The man replied, “My job is to get the attention of the American people. I’m an advertising executive. It’s my task to use everything I can – media, print, billboards – to impress people with the absolute necessity of buying the products I promote.”

So he, along with his entire industry, pours billions of dollars every year into whatever it takes to secure the public’s riveted attention. If they can capture attention, they can capture the sale. That’s why companies are willing to spend millions of dollars for a 30 second advertisement on Super Bowl Sunday, or $2 million for 30 seconds on the final episode of Jerry Seinfeld. It is a fundamental principle: What captures your attention can capture your heart and then capture your response.

A group of businessmen were talking over breakfast one morning about the one thing in their lives which made it difficult to be faithful and growing spiritually. The last man to share cut to the core: “I have too many commitments competing for my attention and my ultimate commitment. I’m going in a hundred directions. I end up thinking about God and my spirituality only in a crisis.”

What difficulty is he describing? Distracted attention; a lack of priority focus; a double mindedness. In other words, his heart isn’t “pure,” it’s not single-minded, focused and undivided in its passion for spiritual things. And since we see only what’s in our hearts, no wonder it’s so often difficult to see God or pay attention to our spirituality, the deepest core values of our lives, in the midst of day-to-day living.