Matthew 5:8

Matthew 5:8  "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."

I have reminded you throughout this look at the Beatitudes that the word blessed means happy. Actually it means more than that. We don't really have an English word that means quite the same thing. John MacArthur in his New Testament Commentary says, "The word blessed implies the condition of well-being that results from salvation, the status of one who has a right relation to God." p. 202 I think this point is especially meaningful here in this 6th Beatitude. We cannot be truly pure in heart, unless we have Jesus as our Savior. We came to the place in our lives when we realized we could do nothing to please God, that Jesus had already done it all! We were ready to abandon our sin and trust Jesus that He has paid the penalty for our sin. Then He transforms us! We are truly "pure in heart" before God. The heart of course is not the organ that pumps our blood, but it is our inner selves, the part that God is concerned with. Some of us might be pretty good actors so as to fool others, but God sees our hearts.

The result of knowing and trusting Jesus--being pure in heart--is that we will see God. Actually we "see" Him now as we meditate on His Word and even as we consider His creation. And ultimately we will be with Him for all eternity!

As believers, we are pure in heart as far as our position in Christ. When we trusted Christ as Savior, God placed or "imputed" Christ's righteousness to us. Our faith is counted or credited as righteousness--purity of heart if  you will. See Romans 4:5! This is a great blessing and settles our standing before God.

However, we don't have to live very long to realize that even though we have Christ's righteousness and we are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17), we are not perfect. We fall far short of God's standard for our behavior and attitudes! But God does want us to strive to live a holy life while on this earth.
How can we do this?

• We must stay in the Word--little by little, systematically--and God will work in our lives.
• We must realize that we cannot do this alone. Jesus left the Holy Spirit to be our guide, and He indwells every believer. We must depend on His power.
• We must confess and turn from every known sin in our lives. See 1 John 1:9
• We must pray. I'm afraid prayer is an area that's all too easy to ignore. Let's not underestimate what God will do in our lives!