Pure in Heart? Me? Hardly. (Beatitudes Part 6)
Beatitudes Devotional Series by Jamie Osborne
Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God
~ Jesus, in Matthew 5:8
Sometimes, I think I’m doing pretty good. I am a decent human. I mostly don’t break the 10 Commandments. I can give myself an A on good behaviour, or maybe even an A+! Sadly, however, good behaviour alone is meaningless, especially when we see this Beatitude: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
Yikes. Sure, I toe the line to have good behaviour. But my heart? Pure? Hardly. Yet this is the message of Jesus: he desires a good heart vs. good behaviour and rule following. From a good heart will flow good actions; but you can act good and still be ugly in your thoughts and attitudes.
For this reason, of all the Beatitudes, this one seems the most unattainable. Who can be truly pure in heart? Who can see God? But if Jesus said it, it must be attainable.
The word "pure" is translated from the Greek word katharos, which means “clean; purified by pruning or fire to bear fruit." When we follow Jesus, he begins to purify us -- through "pruning or fire" -- that we may bear the fruit of his good character.
Jesus is the archetype of a pure heart. In addition to his explicit teachings about purity, he demonstrated purity of heart in his absolute focus in living the two great commandments: loving God and others: He prioritized withdrawing to be with his Father and pray (Matthew 14:13, 23) and repeatedly acted compassionately to those he encountered. This is why we need Jesus.
In his book The Beatitudes: Living in Sync with the Reign of God, Darrell Johnson quotes Peter Kreeft who notes:
"We attain purity of heart not merely by the imitation of Christ, but by the incorporation into Christ, the Christ who has perfect purity of heart”.
In other words, we cannot simply act pure without an inner transformation. To do so means we are no better than the Pharisees and Scribes, whom Jesus called “whitewashed tombs”: outwardly pure but inwardly containing nothing but death (Matthew 23:27-28), like someone with good behaviour and ugly thoughts and attitudes.
Rather, Beatitudes people will single-mindedly pursue loving God and others so that “just as a mirror will reflect images only if it is clean, so also only a pure soul admits the vision of God and the understanding of Scriptures” (Theophylact of Ocrid).
HOW DO WE BECOME PURE?
Returning to the first Beatitude, we must first realize and confess that our hearts are not naturally pure. We are impoverished before God and need him.
Second, we receive the gift of his Spirit and trust he is at work transforming us. The season you are in right now, though difficult, may be a season where your Gardener is pruning off the branches that do not honour Him in order to encourage better character growth. It may be an intense season of pressure and heat, where you feel like you are losing everything. Purification sucks. However, you can hold to one thing during the suffering -- you will not emerge from whatever suffering you are going through the same person. You are in a process of transformation.
Third, continue to make space and time for prayer and withdrawal, as Jesus did.
Fourth, rest in knowing that your status before God is already pure, for you are in Christ at this very moment. Because of what Jesus did for us through the cross and resurrection, you are pure, and you can now stand before God, face-to-face. You already have pure status, and Jesus will always be at work, transforming your heart to become more and more pure and reflective of himself.
PAUSE and REFLECT: A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
A great daily practice to help you recognize your inner life is the daily prayer of Examen. Nick collaborated with More Than 12 Church to record an audio reflection to help guide you through this prayer. We suggest that you listen to it in the morning or in the evening to review the past 24 hours. Check it out here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CGV2dckBFvr/
Tried it? Let us know what you think in the comments below!