Skip to main content

Blessed are the pure in heart.

I have been thinking about Matthew 5 (and 6 and 7) a lot lately.  Particularly, the beatittudes have caught my attention and haven't surendered it.  The same thing happened a few months ago and I had a thought that changed the way I looked at one of them.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."  (Matthew 5:8)
Dictionary.com says the following of pure: adjective, pur·er, pur·est.
1. free from anything of a different, inferior, or contaminating kind; free from extraneous matter
2. unmodified by an admixture; simple or homogeneous
3. of unmixed descent or ancestry
4. free from foreign or inappropriate elements
5. clear; free from blemishes

That verse had always made me a little sad. I was discouraged because I thought it was unattainable; I know I've been contaminated and my heart is a far cry from being pure.  I was born inferior.  I know I have let myself be modified by the sinful world I'm surrounded by.  I know I have been born into a long line of humans who have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  I have worshipped other gods.  And last but definitely not least of all, I know I have a multitude of blemishes. 
In the back of my mind I thought, "Well, then I don't know how I'm going to see God.  Those lucky people who are pure in heart!"
But NO!
The Bible says that above all, the heart of man is evil and that we have all fallen short of the glory of God.  So I was never pure to begin with.  My heart was never "uncontaminated".  There was no way I could have avoided my heart being impure. 
But Jesus wouldn't declare that promise if no man could ever obtain it; without providing hope. 
Because it's not the avoidance of impure things that make us pure.  Instead, it is inviting, allowing and choosing to have Jesus wash and purify us that makes us clean.

Purity of heart is not something we steward and uphold ourselves - it is something that the Lord gives us as He creates a clean heart in us.  Because of that, I have hope of obtaining the promise that I can (and will)  see God, despite the fact that I have been defiled.  It's because we see God that our hearts can be made pure at all.  It's quite a beautiful cycle. 
You will see God if you have a pure heart and you get a pure heart from seeing God. 
So lift your gaze and behold Him, the author and sustainer of everything - including our hearts and the purity of them. 
 

Popular posts from this blog

We Meet Again

Well, to say that it feels weird to be here again is an understatement. This is a little emotional for me and I'll try to explain why. Firstly, it's been a while since the last time I wrote here. When I typed the address into the search bar, I was actually surprised that a 404 page didn't show up and that, instead, I saw a familiar title and design come up on the screen. There it was - my own writing, published on a web page I undoubtedly spent hours adjusting and tweaking until it was just right, down to the blue and green squares I painted  by hand, scanned into a computer and digitized the old fashioned way with....wait for it.....*Microsoft Paint*.  Illustrator? Pshht. Who needs that when you've got the grandmother of graphic design tools for FREE on your receptionist job work computer? (sarcasm, of course. Adobe, baby, I love you.) But even the details and designs of this page speak to the reason why this is emotional for me. All of the things about this blog that ...

Seasons: The Future

So about the future.  I obviously don't know it so it makes sense that this one might be a little shorter (or longer-it could logically go either way, I just went with shorter). There are litterally (at least) a hundred different ways it could go. After the internship I'm doing, I might stay on there. Or I might come back here. If I come back here I could work, go away to college, take classes from home, live with my parents, move out with some friends, get some kind of certification and work a more specific job, come back to the office job I have now, etc. Or I could move to CA and live with some family and find a job with some distant cousins. Or I could move to some other random state and adventure there. The list of possibilities goes on and on. What sounds best to me right now is to do one of the aforementioned options that have to do with moving back here but we really will see won't we.

Lipstick marks on coffee cup lids.

This is one of those posts where I'm riskilly honest.  The kind where I don't sound politically correct but I hope you'll hear me out.  Where I admit things I'm not proud of. Ready?  Okay.  I used to ABHOR lipstick marks on coffee mug lids (as can be seen in photo below).  There, I said it. Now the funny thing to me is that the cup with the lipstick marks on the lid that you see in the picture belongs to none other than yours truly.  So let me explain.   I used to be the girl who subconsciously thought she was better because she didn't need lipstick to feel pretty or 3 coats of mascara just to leave the house.  I was proud to only wear a little bit of makeup (or none at all) and still feel like I looked like my normal, averagely pretty self.  When other girls talked about needing to reapply lipgloss or eyeliner, (especially in front of guys) I made it a point to not be lumped into their shallow activity and went out of my w...