Men of the HeartSample

A Pure Heart

To my brothers,

When we talk about “purity,” I often find that a man’s mind automatically goes to thinking about sexual purity.

And yes, sexual purity is critical to fight for every day.

What I want to talk to you about today, though, is bigger than that.

I want to talk to you about purity of heart.

Jesus outlines “The Beatitudes” in Matthew 5:3-12, which I’ve heard described as “the constitution of the Kingdom of God.”

In verse 8, Jesus firmly and decisively tells us, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (ESV).

Put another way: without a pure heart, we won’t see God.

When we look at the Greek text used in the Gospel of Matthew, we’ll find that the word for “pure” (katharoi) is the same word that John uses multiple times in his Gospel to describe being clean.

Namely, katharoi is used in John 13:10 when Jesus says His disciples are completely clean because they’ve been washed by Him. It’s also used in John 15:3 when Jesus affirms to His disciples that they are clean because of the Word He’s spoken to them.

We are only clean (or pure in heart) if we’ve been washed by Jesus…His blood, His life, and His Word. We can’t see Him until we’ve been cleaned by Him. We can’t clean ourselves up…we can never attain purity of heart in our own ability or strength.

This brings us to our passage for today—1 John 1:7-9—which gives us explicit instructions about how to be cleansed so that we can see the Lord rightly.

The Apostle John tells us that while Jesus’ blood—and only His blood—is powerful enough to cleanse us from all sin, He calls us to come to Him with complete honesty in confession. He promises to fully cleanse us as we are fully truthful with Him and each other.

In other words, only the blood of Jesus can purify our hearts, and we can only invite its power to cleanse us if we come to Him in complete honesty. Genuine confession is the gateway to purity of heart, and repentance is a fruit of it.

May honesty, confession, and repentance continue to mark our lives as men, both individually and together.

Fight for this pure heart, my brothers.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for the blood You shed for me at the Cross. Thank You that it washes me clean from all sin, and thank You for the privilege of being able to come to You in confession and honesty. So, I come to You in full honesty and confession right now, and I pray that You cleanse my heart from all unrighteousness and give me a new heart. Amen.

Reflection: What has the Holy Spirit revealed to you that you need to confess to the Lord and to the brothers you walk with?