The Pure in Heart

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

The Bible commentator Matthew Henry wrote that to be pure in heart “is the most comprehensive character of the blessed.”  In other words, to be pure in heart is to be all-inclusive, that is, taking everything about a person’s Christian life into account.  The goal of every Christian is to have a heart that’s pure, filled with the love of God with no room for any self-righteous notions or pride in oneself.  Webster’s Dictionary defines the word “pure” as “free from anything that adulterates, taints, impairs, etc.; unmixed; clear.”  How in the world can one’s heart be pure and untainted by sin when we all live in a sin-cursed world?  On our own power we can’t.  Since we are born with a sin nature, our hearts are filled with all kinds of sin to which we may succumb.  In other words, we have the proclivity, or natural tendency, to sin.  We may say that we would never do “such and such”, but without the help of the Holy Spirit, we could very well get caught up in the very thing we thought we could avoid.  We’ve all heard about Christian leaders who were involved in the very things that they preached against.

Solomon wrote in Proverbs 4:23 to “guard our hearts, for out of it flows the issues of life” (paraphrased).  The Living Bible puts it this way:  “Above all else, guard your affections.  For they influence everything else in your life.”  Our affections can also lead to greed.  Jesus cautioned us against hording up treasures on earth for ourselves.  He said, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21).  He also said in Matthew 12:35 that “a good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things…”, and we know that the reverse is true: evil man, evil treasure, evil things.  Therefore whatever is in one’s heart is what’s going to come out.

The only way to have a pure heart is for it to be cleansed by the blood of Christ.  He died on the cross to give us a pure heart so that we could be made righteous before a holy and righteous God.  What would happen for one who had an impure, evil heart to see God, if that were possible?  It wouldn’t be a blessed event.  Matthew Henry wrote, “What pleasure could an unsanctified soul take in the vision of a holy God?  As He cannot endure to look upon their iniquity, so they cannot endure to look upon His purity…”  When God looks at the heart of one who has trusted in Him, He cannot see the impurities.  He only sees the blood of Jesus Christ that covers all those sins.  Since God cannot look upon sin, we cannot have a relationship with Him unless His eyes are protected from our sin by Christ’s sinless, untainted, perfect, and pure blood sacrifice applied to our hearts.  No human or devil has the ability to hide or cover the sins of mankind.  That’s why Jesus proclaimed in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”  And that is the gospel truth.