There is a passage of scripture in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount that gets my attention every time I read it. It is found in Matthew 5:8 and says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (ESV).

The “beatitudes”, as we called them, describe the ideal character one should have to be pleasing to God. This particular beatitude, to me, sums up all the others found in verses 3 through 11. If one is pure in heart, all the other beatitudes are attainable.

The heart is the very center of all human words and actions, so it stands to reason that the heart must be clean in order to be with the Father. That doesn’t mean that we will be perfect, but it certainly means we will be constantly working toward a pure heart.

The subject of purity is probably not the most popular subject these days; but as you can see, a pure heart is necessary to see God. Understanding that will most certainly help us make decisions about things in our lives that make us pure or keep us from being pure.

Let’s take, for instance, the subject of modesty. Modesty in dress has been a problem since the beginning of time. Remember, hiding from God was the first thing Adam and Eve did after they sinned. Adam told God, “I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:12). Verse 21 of that same chapter says that God made garments for Adam and Eve from skins. “He clothed them.”

 Now you may be thinking that no one is going around naked, but just look around you. Some people don’t have far to go! That includes men and women. We have women now showing parts of their under garments, men doing the same by wearing their pants pulled down around their hips. Dresses and skirts are getting shorter and shorter. Blouses are getting lower and lower. Do you think this is what the Lord had in mind when He said to be pure in heart?

Language is another area we should examine. How many times a day do you hear the phrase, “OMG” or some euphemism?  This type of disrespect for God was a problem in the Old Testament. It was important enough that when God gave the Ten Commandments he said, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7).

We don’t have such a direct command in the New Testament, but the book of James certainly gives us some real insight into the dangers of the misuse of our tongues. Chapter 3, in particular, shows that blessings and cursings should not come out of the mouth of one striving to be pure in heart.

Everyone wants to be fashionable. Everyone wants to fit in. So where should we draw the line? The way we draw the line is by deciding if what we wear and what we say makes us pure in heart. I am afraid that our attitude is that we want to see how close we can get to the line. We really want to wear what we want to wear. We want to talk like we want to talk. We don’t want anyone telling us that our hearts are not in the right place.

Do we “look” like we are pure in heart? Do we “speak” like we have a pure heart? Is our behavior that which expresses godliness and good works? How do other people perceive us? Do they look at us or hear us speak and perceive that we are pure in heart? If not, Jesus says we won’t see God.

Sandra Oliver