Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Matthew 5:8
How do you know if your heart is pure? Most of us fail to even really look at our heart. On a day-to-day basis, we assume that we are at least purer than others. There is a deep cynicism in our modern world. It is easy to assume everybody is lazy and living with selfish motives. In the worst cases, we assume that those that disagree with us are not just wrong, but evil. But really, have we even taken a moment to look at our own heart?
What are our real motives?
Do you even know? If just ‘not going to jail’ is the best reason why you don’t get violent, your heart needs some work. As we work through this series on the Sermon on the Mount, we will be forced to examine our hearts. Do you lust? Do you hate? Do you have violent thoughts? Look at your thought-life carefully.
While it will take courage, I invite you to follow the advice of a small booklet that someone gave me 30 years ago, shortly after I committed to living my life for Jesus. In this booklet, the author led Jesus to examine every part of their heart. Some parts, he was proud to show Jesus. “See how nice I was to that person? Did you notice those good works?” While Jesus did seem pleased with the photos in his metaphorical heart there were things that He found much more interesting. The times when the author took time to listen to the hurting person in the grocery store and that evening when the author prayed a heartfelt prayer for his enemy. For those two actions there was no public applause. As the tour continued, Jesus wanted to go into a part of the house that the author was opposed to showing Him. Now, Jesus is a gentleman and will not force His way in. But it was obvious that if the author did not open that part of the house, the man was not yet pure. You see it takes Jesus to make us pure. But He will not force Himself on us. We must choose to let Him examine and heal us.
Psalm 51 describes the purification process. It almost sounds violent. “Let the bones that you broke…” Purity may require broken bones. Purification is a painful process. You see Jesus is not content with just whitewashing our sins. He dives in and conducts a full repair and makes all things new. When He does surgery, He is not much into the band-aid concept. Yes, my friends it will not be convenient. In most cases, it won’t happen overnight. You will give permission and then change your mind.
When I was a young man, I took a mission’s trip to Peru. In the city where we were working there was a hill with a large cross on top of it. During a down day, we took a hike to the cross, I was surprised by all of the garbage all around the cross. The hill was the community dump. I could not see that from the valley. In a past era, they would say that we are to leave our problems at the altar. That is what I am encouraging you to do. I am also encouraging you to leave it there.
Do not pick up the garbage.
Again, I admit that this will be difficult. Getting started will be the most difficult part. When it gets tough, answer this question. How bad do you want to see God? Is the cleansing worth the effort? As one that loves Jesus, I believe it is worth every moment of pain to be cleansed.
