Blessed are the Pure in Heart

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. — Matthew 5:8

“The heart is deceitful above all things. Who can know it?”

We don’t always know ourselves well, but there is One who does and He tries our hearts—not so He can know us, because He knows us fully before we are born—but so we can know ourselves better, repent, grow, and find the place we were created to inhabit in His Kingdom.

This process of having our hearts tested, revealed, and cleansed seems to be an on-going part of the Christian life. The more open we are to this experience, the more we can gain. Yet, it all depends on the grace of God. It is the grace of God that opens our hearts in the first place and it is the grace of God that works in us as we learn to trust in the promises made possible through the Son, Jesus.

We are promised a new nature that is not contrary to God, and therefore blind to God. We are redeemed by the blood of Jesus, and therewith we can boldly approach God and get to know who He is.

This goes back to what I was thinking about yesterday concerning perspective. Our perspective matters. The way we look at people, the world, and the way we view God matters.

As we seek Jesus and as our relationship with Him grows, our perspective on many things will change. As we continue to strive in the knowledge we receive, our nature will also change. As this process occurs, we begin to know God better because our hearts are being cleansed—which is intimately connected to our perspectives.

A heart full of sin cannot see clearly. A heart full of sin cannot know God nor please God. The promise of having our hearts renewed through the knowledge of the Lord “written on the fleshly table of the heart” is an immeasurably valuable gift we are given.

Who is more worth knowing than God Himself? Who is more interesting and worthy to be known and loved than Jesus Himself?

It’s really incredible and I’m struggling to find the right words.

The closer we draw towards Jesus, the closer we draw towards God. In so doing, our hearts are tried by He who is a Spirit and a devouring fire. Life also tries us, as does our Adversary. As we are tried, admit our faults, repent, and seek new knowledge that replaces our wicked ways, we grow in our understanding of who Jesus is. Who God is.

This plays out practically. Our perspective on humanity changes. Our perspective on individuals change. Our perspective on the world’s problems change. Our perspective on the most important matters of life change. Our perspective on the creation change. As we see all things for what they really are—as we are enlightened by the Holy Spirit of Truth—we are made free from our captivity to this world and we become residents of the Kingdom of Heaven.

How wonderful it is to lay aside the things that blind us: pride, resentment, jealousy, fear, greed, despair, vengeance, and misinformation.

How wonderful it is to really see people. How wonderful it is to really see the world. How wonderful it is to begin to see the purposes of God in all the troubles we go through. How wonderful it is to get to know our Lord, Jesus and what His Kingdom is about. There is nothing more worth knowing, and this knowing is an integral part of the gospel.

The gospel is more than forgiveness. It is healing. It is knowing. It is growing in a Kingdom that will never end. It is faith in the promises of our Lord who will return, defeat death once and for all, and establish His kingdom forever. Even in this present life.

There is always more to gain, which is a blessing because if there were not always more to gain, then why live? The point of life is to grow into a son of God through continued striving against sin that corrupts and blinds us, and we do so through faith in Jesus who is the First-Born, Fully Divine and Perfect Son of God.

Jesus is the only way. Period. His blood is the only way we can find forgiveness for our sin, continue to approach God boldly, and seek the Spirit of God who can make all things known to us according to the measure of grace we receive of God.

There is none like Him. None more worthy to be known, yet none more cast aside by the world. It is a shame. Let us never grow stagnant in our desire to get to know Him, because knowing Him is life. Knowing Him is to know God, and to know God is to be a son of God.

There are many in this world who want you to fear them and trust in them instead of God. Don’t. The world does not know Him and cannot know Him. Don’t trust in the world. Don’t trust in Man. Don’t fear the world. Don’t fear Man. Fear God and trust in Him, and He will provide everything you need.

Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God (3 John:11)

Jesus made a promise to us. If we seek to keep His commandments: love towards God and towards fellow man, then He will send us the Holy Spirit (John 14-16). The Holy Spirit is grieved continually by the hatred in this world. Even among believers who argue, slander, and accuse one another as we fight over who Jesus is, misuse His word, and trust in the world and our religious leaders over God.

It’s no wonder our churches are powerless to a large degree. Let us lay it all aside.

Let us get to know Jesus ourselves and stop trusting in the corruptions of this world—especially our Christian world. It is corrupt, and though I trust in the mercy of God for all believers, I make no apology for saying it is corrupt. It is love to say so. It is love to tear down as well as build, so long as we know what to tear down and what to build.

We cannot say that we know God if we do not love our brethren (1 John 4).

The teachings of Jesus show us what this love means. The Holy Spirit brings His word in us to life. Seek more from God. Seek more ability to keep His commandments, to learn His teachings, and to receive more from the Holy Spirit so that we are given the power to walk in the Kingdom of God and not the kingdoms of this world.

The more we grow, the more we gain. The more we gain, the more is required of us. Even our lives. I am certain all that we gain is far more valuable than our little lives on this earth. I am certain that the power of the Spirit will make us able to joyfully give our life for the namesake of Jesus Christ and all that He stands for.

This article is part of a series that considers the Parables of Jesus. Right now, we are looking at the statements Jesus made during His Sermon on the Mount, to which He referenced in His Parable of the Building on Rock and Sand.