Thursday, 26 August 2021
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
The outward expression of a pure heart is important, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Thomas Watson puts it beautifully. “Purity of heart does not exclude purity of life, no more than the pureness of the fountain excludes the pureness of the stream. But it is called purity of heart, because this is the main thing in religion, and there can be no purity of life without it. A Christian's great care should be to keep the heart pure, as one would especially preserve the spring from being poisoned.”
And what does Jesus promise for the pure in heart? We shall see God.
Moses saw the back of God in Exodus 33 and even that was enough to make his face shine. 1 Cor 13:12 says “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.” Think of your most amazing experiences of God. The time that you felt his power, strength, joy, comfort, fatherhood, or closeness. And then realize that that experience is like a reflection in a sheet of steel. It would be like going to, say, the Maldives and getting on a boat and sitting on that boat watching the sunset over perfectly smooth water on a perfectly warm evening. Except that you are not watching the sunset, you are facing the other way while holding a sheet of steel and “enjoying” the sunset while thinking this was as good as it gets.
And this verse tells us that we shall see God. See him in all of his glory, his love, his holiness, his goodness, his faithfulness. Should this one thing alone not be enough to make it our hearts desire to be pure?
Sometimes it doesn’t actually ‘click’ for us. This is God! Not just a super-powerful awesome “thing.” This is God. He made everything. John 1:3 “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” And all that with just a word. And his Son is promising us that we will get to meet him. Face to face. Wow.
The moment we see God, we will fall on our faces in worship and reverence but also in joy and love. Thank God now for this promise.
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