3 Days to Christmas: "Blessed are the pure in heart"

Read: Matthew 5:8

"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they will see God."

Observe:

When I first read the verse, my heart sunk. I am thinking how can I see God when I still sin and have bad habits. I spent some hours researching on "purity". The word "purity" which I have first inferred is absolute pureness (ie.unblemished) in God's standard, similar to the previous post of "righteousness", which is not humanly possible to attain. Let me be clear here, that the below opinions are of my interpretation and various reading I did online. Maybe different from readers church interpretation.

First, let us study the Strong's concordance on the meaning of key words: "Blessed, Pure, Heart, See"

"Blessed"

μακάριος or makários, 3107, means happy, blessed, to be envied. It is not really, like most pastors, interpretation of monetary gain. It could refer to state of emotion like happiness, blissfulness. Or it could refer to fruitfulness, like harvest gain or productivity. Also, the word "blessed" comes with a hint of obedience to God.

"Pure"

καθαρός or katharós, 2513, means clean, pure, unstained, either literally or ceremonially or spiritually; guiltless, innocent, upright. The word "pure" can be literal (i.e God's standard of absolute purity) or ceremonial/spiritual (i.e feeling guiltless, innocent, upright). There are various verses in found in the bible that speaks on renewal of heart or purifying heart. This means that the verses in Matthew 5:8 could refer to purification instead of absolute purity. I will share those verses below, after I finish the rest of the lexicon.

"Heart"

καρδία or kardia, 2588, means heart, mind, character, inner self, will, intention, center. The word "heart" encompasses various meaning, shockingly similar to Chinese character "心" usage. From various verses I have found, the heart can be related to emotion (Proverbs 12:25), can direct your actions (Matthew 5:28), can be defiled by actions/thoughts/emotions (Mark 7:21-23, Proverbs 27:19), can used to illustrate diligence or steadfastness (Jeremiah 29:13), can be fragile (Psalm 147:3).

"See"

ὁράω or horaó, 3708, means see, look upon, experience, perceive, discern, beware. The word "see" has both literal meaning of looking and indirect meaning of experience or perceive. From various verses, I believe that no one can "see" God and live, so I am more incline to think that the "see" here represent "experience" or "perceive".

To experience God is to live out God's words in your life, true that some may say experiencing God daily is by His answered prayer, eg. bus arriving just in time or thank God the train didn't breakdown etc, but these things even the idol worshippers are also seeking and attributing these "gifts" to their "god" or experiencing their "god", so what make it so different between you and them? Receiving these gifts are good, however you are not experiencing God in totality. What if God stops giving you a smooth ride in life? Would you say I am not experiencing God anymore?... Sorry that I have side tracked, because I see that many christian today only experience God on a superficial level, it is easy to receive such "gifts" from God but they often overlook the harder part of experiencing God which is to live out His words. When you live out His words, others will also be able to see Jesus in you. Reminded me of the hymn "Let others see Jesus in you".

When we put them together, we get a clearer picture about the verse Matthew 5:8.

"Blessed" (happy) are the "Pure" (spiritually/ceremonially guiltless, upright) in "Heart" (innermost being/core/intention): for they will "See" (experience/perceive) God.

Now we have referenced the Strong's concordance to the Matthew 5:8 and have shown you my interpretation that I preferred. Let me explain below, with bible verses, on why I choose the indirect meaning of some words instead of the literal meaning. And how can we receive this blessing from God.

In matters of Heart and Purity:

I would have to link purity and heart together as most verses relates to purity of heart. First, we need to understand how God look at us before we can "see" God. God esteems the "Heart" (innermost being) more than physical appearance. But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7). Thus, we have to be aware of our heart to be free from evil thoughts. "For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. All these evils come from within, and these are what defile a man.” (Mark 7:21-23) As the verse before stated, within the "hearts of men" comes evil, this means men can never attain the perfection in purity because we are all sinners. This is the reason why I didn't choose the literal meaning of purity (absolute purity). That said, does that means we just backslide and commit all the evil stated above since we are impure? No, that would be foolishness. It is like saying since I am going to die anyways why bother to eat. The best we can do is to work towards purity (work doesn't means salvation here, you are already saved) which is to glorify God.

In matters of Seeing God:

Why didn't I accept the literally meaning of "See" God? Because, there are verses that supporting that no one can really see God. Jesus said, "Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father." (John 6:46). Also Moses, who is the one chosen by God to lead His people out of Egypt, would have to hid himself from God's glory to receive the God's commandments. For God said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!" (Exodus 33:20)

How do we purify our hearts to see (experience) God then?

-Be repentant. As we are not perfect and will sin again, God is gracious and will always call us to "return" back to him after we mourn (rend your hearts, ie. sincere repentance) over our transgressions.

“Even now,” declares the Lord,“return to me with all your heart,with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. (Joel 2:12-13)

- Be close to God, clean up your deeds, cleanse your heart and not be double-minded. Focus on loving God than the world. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:8)

- Just like we wear sunblock to prevent harmful sun-rays, our purity of heart requires us to block off evil thoughts. Example malice, negative thoughts that will draw you away from God. "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." (Proverbs 4:23)

-Request from God a pure heart and renew steadfast spirit towards God. "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." (Psalm 51:10)

- Love one another. Let others see Jesus in you. "No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us." (1 John 4:12)

Finally, rejoice and be blessed (happy) in the Lord unfailing love and His salvation.

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me. (Psalm 13:5-6)

Apply & Do:

The people of the world (not only christian) understands the heart matters, what more for us christian! We have to guard our hearts against evil thoughts, self-depreciating thoughts that will draw us away from God. We may fail to resist some temptation and sin, but know that God is a loving Father as long as we are sincerely repentant He will forgive our trespasses. As God has love us, so we must love one another perfecting His love in us.

Prayer:

Father, I pray that you will always love us and forgive our transgressions. We are sincerely repentant before you for the sins that we have done or yet to be done. As we also have forgiven those that trespasses against us. Create in us a pure heart, a renew steadfast spirit in You. Let us have no doubt on loving You and not the world for all the world's glimmers are temporary. Let us love one another as You have first love us and that others will see Jesus in our conduct. Amen.

Image source: flickr

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