BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART - THEY SHALL SEE GOD
JESUS spoke these words in Matthew 5:8.
The word "pure" - looking in The Readers Digest Word Finder, in part:
unmixed, full-stregth, straight, perfect, faultless, flawless, undefiled, uncorrupted, uncontaminated, uninfected, unpolluted, sterilized, wholesome, innocent, sinless, righteous, upright, above suspicion, unimpeachable.....
In my Canadian Dictionary we read in part for "pure" -
clean and not mixed with any harmful substances...chaste...not corrupt....guiltless....perfectly in tune....
Looking at all the word categories that would be inclusive of the one word "pure" we could say it means someone who is living a life pleasing to God; so pleasing that one day they will be able to have the right and privilege to SEE GOD!
THEN someone may say, "Wow....all those descriptions for the word "pure" are so expressive that how on earth can a mere mortal flesh and blood person be like that?
Let's put the hardest one to bed first - sinless, guiltless!
How on earth can we be sinless? Does it mean we do not sin? No, certainly not as we read in 1 John 1:8. BUT READING ON we find the wonderful truth ...verse 9!
"IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS, HE IS FAITHFUL AND JUST TO FORGIVE US OUR SINS, AND TO CLEANSE US FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS."
RIGHTEOUSNESS is defined for us in Psalm 119:172. ALL God's COMMANDMENTS are righteousness.
The book of Hebrews shows Jesus is today OUR High Priest in heaven, by the Father's right hand, making INTERCESSION for us.
As Paul shows in the book of Romans, when we are under GRACE, when we are walking in God's way, doing the will and way of God, we are under GRACE - when we CONFESS our sins as John tells us, God will forgive us our sins. Jesus is interceding for us, and having the mind attitude of REPENTANCE and willing to have our mind set to walk in the WAY of the Eternal God, we are forgiven our sins. If we have the attitude of mind as John puts it in 1 John 2:3-6, then we are under God's grace, under his forgiveness.
We are then in effect SINLESS!
SO YOU SEE THIS PART OF "PURE" CAN BE SO WITH US!
FOR FURTHER IN-DEPTH STUDY ON THIS SEE MY STUDY CALLED "SAVED BY GRACE."
Pure is to be UNMIXED...... as Jesus said and taught, you cannot serve God and mammon - the world, and all in the world that would be sin outright, or placing something BEFORE serving God; this could be a job, a hobby, a physical person, and just anything that you put ahead of serving God, where you cannot give it up IF called to do so by God. When the rubber hits the road, God must come first in your life. For the most part if you are serving and obeying the will and way of the Eternal, he probably will let you have physical things in life that are good and fun and healthy. Okay, I have my horse Goldie; she's the horse of my boyhood dreams, super good looking, fast as a bullet, and so much more. I enjoy her, but I do not make her my "all in all" in my life. I go and work and have fun with her usually 3 times a week. In the summer on maybe 4 or 5 days I trailer her and we ride in a Provincial Park [State Park to you in the USA]; could be fine for us to go someplace for a week. The point is..... I do not make my love for my horse the all important, time consuming pleasure, before serving my God. Now I'm an ordained minister of the Lord, in my case that must come first in my life, teaching and preaching [now on this website and emails - pastoring a church I did at one time back through the 1980s, but not any more]. For you it may be very different; the main point is God must be first in your life, IF God does test you, you must be willing to give up whatever you have to give up in order to fully serve God. As Jesus said, you cannot serve worldly things to the detriment of serving God. Certainly you cannot have one foot in the wrong ways of the world, and one foot serving God.
Pure is being STRAIGHT - the straight as Jesus put it: seek you the straight and narrow way; for wide is the path that leads to destruction, and straight or narrow is the path that leads to life eternal.
You have to understand, have as a mental part of your mind, the will, the way, the commandments of God, as the apple of your eye, the most valuable commodity you can ever have.
You see the will and way of God and your heart's mind is to make a straight line towards it, nothing distracting you from keeping that line straight, and holding that prize of salvation and God's Kingdom firmly in your hands.
Pure is being INNOCENT - JESUS said "Be as wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove."
You have to be wise in your living the Christian life. Jesus also said, "Do not cast your pearls before swine, less they turn and trample them to the ground." Living and presenting yourself as a Christian to people is one thing; not being ashamed of Christ is another; then watching when you speak, how you speak, to whom you speak, the word of God, is also another - using wisdom. In the main of living you need to be harmless as a dove. That does not mean you let people walk all over you. When some Jews tried to do that with Paul, he as a Roman citizen appealed to the Roman court. You do have certain rights within the laws of the land, so being as harmless as a dove does not mean you let people walk all over you; but in standing in your rights, you can still be as harmless as a dove. It is all a matter of your ATTITUDE, even towards your enemies, in day to day living. We are not here talking about someone trying to kill you, or beat you up, or rape your wife, or kidnap your child. We are talking about being in your general life innocent in how you deal with people.
Pure is being UNIMPEACHABLE - as a child of God, you must try your very best to be on the up-and-up with everyone and in all that you do. In your business transactions, in your play, in all that you do and say, you must have in your mind, if this was brought before the authorities could I be impeached and found guilty. It covers how we work and live towards all that come our way, in whatever ways they come.
It is an often sad story about people going under the name of "Christian" who live in such a way, that those not Christian say, "Well if that is what Christianity is all about, I want nothing to do with it."
Pure is being PERFECTLY IN TUNE - I'm a guitar player, and if one string is not perfectly in tune, and in-sink with the other strings, you are going to know. Think of the violin..... one string out of tune would be very noticeable, even painful on the ears.
Think of God as having MANY strings..... he actually does in the way of his commandments.
Jesus said, man, God's man, must live by every word that proceeds from him (Mat.4:4).
Now that means reading the word of God, the Bible, from cover to cover to ascertain all that God has spoken. But there are some keys to living by God's word; especially when we think of an Old Testament and a New Testament. So to help you I wrote a two part study called "Living by EVERY WORD of God - How?" It's on this website.
Pure is UNCORRUPTED - GOLD is about as uncorrupted as it gets in this physical world; gold bricks can lay on the bottom of the sea bed for centuries, and it never corrupts. We use the word "corrupt" in many ways: "he/she is a corrupt politician" - "he/she has corrupted themselves in their sport by taking banned drugs" - "the corrupt police officer was found dealing in drugs" - it means you give in to a way of life below the standard of your job, in ways that are not right from God's perspective.
The Godly person must always strive for the high calling given to them from the Father in heaven. It is written "Be you holy for I am holy." Christians who read the Bible know the Godhead is uncorrupted, and so the Christian must strive to be uncorrupted in their way of acting, speaking, thinking. Being uncorrupted is a daily way of resisting anything that can corrupt us. Paul told the church at Ephesus that the Godly person must put on the whole armor of God to withstand the darts of the wicked. That section of Scripture can use up 2 or 3 sermon messages. We are daily in a battle with demonic forces, and the wickedness of the world. That armor of God is vital to put on each day, if we are to remain un-corrupted.
The also sad fact is that ministers of God are not immune to also being corrupted. It has happened, it does happen, that ministers leading congregations, large or small, can be corrupted into going the wrong way as a life style. They may start out honest and "good" as the world looks upon the word "good." But they can be taken in pride, vanity, and in self-glorifying because they have raised up "this work" or "this huge church" or become powerful dictators over their "flock" of Christians. Some, like Jim Jones started well, but ended up being so corrupt, they look not only their own life but the lives of his congregation and their children also. Just Google "Jim Jones" and you'll find the whole sad and disgusting story.
I'll finish this study with a story from the book "750 Engaging Illustrations - for Preachers, Teachers, and Writers" by Craig Brian Larson and Leadership Journal
Quoted
In the spring of 1995, revival broke out on many college campuses across America. One characteristic of this visitation from God was students dealing with sinful habits that they had previously let linger in their lives. Bonne Steffen interviewed several of the students for the Christian Reader; one student named Brian at Asbury College said:
I was a leader on campus. We had invited Wheaton students to come and share. At first, I was praying for other people, but then I began to think about my own struggles. I stood in line for three hours with one of my best friends all the time thinking, How can I get up here and admit I'm less than perfect? But I also realized that being on a Christian campus isn't protection from the world. I have really struggled with lust. I found I wasn't alone. It was an issue for a lot of others. Personally, I wanted the chain to be broken; I wanted that stuff out of my life. If it meant no magazines, no television, I was willing to eliminate them. A number of us signed a paper stating our desire for purity, which we put in a box and placed on the altar. I'm still accountable to other people. My deepest desire is to be pure in my heart and thoughts.
As this student shows, the desire for purity is the beginning of purity. Purity comes when we pursue it actively and forcefully.
End quote
WE CHRISTIANS MUST STRIVE TO BE PURE IN THOUGHT, WORD, AND ACTION. IN SO DOING WE SHALL INDEED BE IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD THE FATHER; WE SHALL SEE HIM - THAT THOUGHT ALONE SHOULD INSPIRE US TO MAKE OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH PURE. YES AS STATED WE MISS THE MARK, FALL SHORT AT TIMES. BUT WE CONFESS OUR SINS; JESUS AS OUR HIGH PRIEST INTERCEDES FOR US TO THE FATHER; WE EVER HAVE A MIND-SET OF WANTING TO BE PURE, IN THOUGHT, WORD, AND ACTION OF LIFE - Keith Hunt
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