The BeatitudesSample

Clean Up in the Heart Aisle

Written By: Danny Saavedra

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”—Matthew 5:8 (NIV)
 

The one thing I appreciate about going to stores like Target is the organization of their merchandise. If I am looking for cookware, it’s located in one specific department of the store. This makes finding it much easier.
 

As I was studying today’s verse, I discovered something interesting. It says, “Blessed are the pure in heart.” If you look back a few verses to Matthew 5:3 (NIV), it tells us “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Regarding this, theologian Charles Ellicott wrote, “Here, as with the poor in spirit, the noun determines the region in which the purity is to be found—the “heart” as representing desires and affections, as the “spirit” represents the will and higher personality.” So, essentially, humility is found in the spirit aisle . . . and purity is found in the heart department!
 

The word for pure is katharoi, which means, “clean, pure, unstained, either literally, ceremonially, or spiritually; guiltless, innocent, upright." It refers to that which is “without added mixture; separated (purged), clean (pure) because it is unmixed (without undesirable elements).” In the spiritual sense, it refers to being purified by God—being free from the contaminating influences of sin.
 

The more I read this verse, the more I see the masterful wordsmith that Jesus is. He says that the pure in heart will see God. You see, what Jesus is telling us is that when the lenses of our heart are made clean, like a glass cleaning solution, we are able to see the Lord clearly. Ellicott explained that we can see “more than others see in all through which God reveals Himself—the beauty of nature, the inward light, the moral order of the world, the written word, the life and teaching of Christ.”
 

When we receive Jesus, Romans 6 tells us we’re baptized into His death and raised to walk “in newness of life.” That baptism into Christ is a heart purifying experience that we come out of free from the bonds of sin, able to finally see God. And although we see “only a reflection as in a mirror” (1 Corinthians 13:12, NIV), we who have had our hearts purified by the refining fires and cleansing waters of Christ can behold the glory of the Lord.

Today, I want to encourage you as members of God’s family, as His ambassadors, to use your life to point people to the purifying agent, Jesus, found in the heart department the same way a Target employee would point you to the cookware department!

DIG: Do a word study on purity using a Bible application site.

DISCOVER: What does the Bible say about being pure of heart?

DISPLAY: Today, ask the Lord to search your heart for any impurities that may be clouding your vision.