Wed, Jul 9th - 1:10AM

Purity of Heart

Blessed [are] the pure in heart: for they shall see God.  Matt. 5:8

My eyes are dry
My faith is old
My heart is hard
My prayers are cold
And I know how I ought to be
Alive to you and dead to me

But what can be done
For an old heart like mine
Soften it up
With oil and wine
The oil is you, your spirit of love
Please wash me anew
With the wine of your blood

By Keith Green

Is there such a thing as a pure heart in a human being?  Looking at my own, I have reason to question.  But my experience is not the sole criterion of truth.  The word of God is truth and my experience must be understood and interpreted by His word.

How blessed are these blesseds, because they give hope to a discouraged heart, one that, though not yet perfected has set its sights on the heavenly kingdom.  The heart set on pilgrimage is pure, and not pure at the very  same time.  It is pure in that it has been regenerated by the Spirit of the holy God and embued in its new birth with a seed of the very heart of God.  It is impure in that it has not yet, in a practical sense obtained that absolute moral perfection of motive and intention that it longs to possess.  What a strange contrast! 

I think we’ve begun to see how these pronouncements of blessedness seem to build one upon another.  “Poor in spirit” might be the entryway into the kingdom, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Next, they mourn and grieve over the natural condition they find themselves in, in light of the glory that is their destiny as they proceed onward and upward.  They are surely comforted in that mourning with a comfort no earthly parent could ever have imparted to her child.  Then comes “meekness,” that quality bestowed only upon the realization of the sinner’s need and neediness.  Can such a one who has seen the true condition of his adamic soul and found a deep contrition for it, a remorse and a fearful shame for the sin that permeates his human heart ever lift his head in pride again?  But these meek are not the passive of this world.  Rather, having been washed of their filth, they are able now to stand in the grace they have received of God.  Truly they will be the inheritors of a new earth. 

And what is it that stirs deep in them more than any earthly desire for food and natural satisfaction of any sort?  A hunger and thirst for righteousness, but not a righteousness that originates in their own hearts, one that is based on superficial observance of the law and seeks to make itself look good before others.  No!  This is the righteousness of faith imputed to the one who has faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross.  It is a legal standing before the high court of heaven, as well as a condition in which the very holy character of the holy God is imparted by measure to the soul.  It is a power to walk without offense to God or man and to abide in that holy state forever.  The promise is fulfilled in accord with the desire:  “they shall be filled” with that righteousness.

Since that righteousness is not something obtained from within the ourselves, but is bestowed from above, and born out of a meek (and humble) disposition toward the heavenly Bestower, and since it has been granted as an act of pure mercy toward the one who is not in the least wise worthy of it, mercy must emminate from this purified soul.  He is the recipient of mercy; he conveys mercy in every transaction with his fellow humans, and as a gracious result, he receives more mercy and undeserved kindness.  O how great is our Father’s love toward us whom He has adopted as His own!

Now comes the purity of heart so necessary for seeing the living God.  If we are to see Him we must be like Him. 

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.  1Jn. 3:2

How shall we be like Him?  We will bear His moral and spiritual likeness: absolute purity of heart.  Can the One who promised these things fail to deliver them, when the pre-conditions, though not merited have been present?  How I’ve struggled with my wicked, self-deceived, self-serving, greedy, lustful heart!  How weary I am of its utter depravity, of the incurable moral “plague” I was first born with.

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.  Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden [part] thou shalt make me to know wisdom.  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  Make me to hear joy and gladness; [that] the bones [which] thou hast broken may rejoice  Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

 Ps. 51:5-10

Like the lowly publican I cannot lift my head for sight of the wickedness that dwells within me (my human heart).  Like the Psalmist I freely acknowledge both the condition of my heart, as well as the actions that have proceeded out of it.  And like David, I beg the Pure One for His purification.  O, to be like Him!  O to be free of this sinful flesh!  Without His amazing grace, every imagination of the thoughts of my heart are only evil continually.  (Gen. 6:5)

My friends, I’m back there on that grassy hillside sitting in a large crowd of familiar strangers, gazing in wonderment at this Teacher like a child looking at the clouds.  “Dear Jesus, I want thee, and everything thou hast for me!  Take me with thee, wherever thou goest, to the garden, to the cross, to thy heavenly kingdom!  Don’t forsake me, Lord!”