Jesus told the multitude that they would see God, if they were pure in heart. Not every one wants to see God because many people don’t believe there is a God. This promise would mean nothing to them! They don’t care whether this passage means physically or spiritually seeing God.
I can’t imagine what my life would be like without a belief in God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, the devil, heaven and hell. Belief in all of these brings purpose to my life. It gives me strength when I am sad or alone. It gives me courage to stand against evil.
Jesus said in John 14:23, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (KJV). In verse 21, Jesus said, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him”.
It is necessary to have God’s commands (read them and know them), and then we must keep them. Jesus will then be manifest to us. It is plain. Having this connection with God and Jesus is dependent on our knowing and keeping His commandments.
One of those commandments is to be pure in heart. Now we need to know what purity of heart is.
The heart, as it appears in scripture, means the inner self. It is that which makes us think, feel, and decide. Thinking processes are carried out by the heart. Decision-making is also carried out by the heart. Let’s look at some examples of the thoughts of man being carried out in actions.
In Genesis 6, before God destroyed the earth by water, He looked at the wickedness of man and saw how great it was. He saw “that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was evil continually”, Genesis 6:5. God determined to destroy man, but “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Noah’s heart was different. It was not filled with wickedness.
In Genesis 11, the earth was of one language. The people determined to build a city and a tower that would reach to heaven. This was not God’s plan. He wanted man to populate the earth. In verse 6 God said, “Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” The imaginations of their hearts were evil.
One of the most compelling examples of evil beginning in the heart is found in Matthew 15. The scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus and asked Him why the disciples did not wash their hands before they ate. The Pharisees were more concerned with the outward cleansing than the inward man.
In verse 11, Jesus made clear what true purity of heart was and is. He said, “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.”
In verses 18-20 Jesus said, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.”
The scribes and Pharisees were good at talking about their own righteousness. They talked about their good deeds, but their hearts were evil. They are proof that every evil word, deed, and action starts in the heart. Man imagines evil and puts it into practice.
In I Samuel 16, God sent the prophet, Samuel, to anoint a new king of Israel. One of things He told Samuel was not to look at the appearance of the man He would show him. He was not to look at his height. God said, “For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” God wanted a man as king that had the right kind of heart.
Just as evil originates in the heart, so does goodness. You can’t really do good to anyone that you don’t first have the desire for doing good in your heart.
Every work of the flesh mentioned in Galatians 3:19-21 starts in the heart. When we talk about purity of heart, we often think of being free of sexual sins. The majority of these sins relate to sexual sins. Paul says those that participate in these sins will not see the kingdom of God.
The fruits of the Spirit named in verses 22-23 also begin in the heart. The difference is the outcome. Purity of heart is contrasted with impurity of heart. Impurity comes out in evil deeds; purity of heart brings about good.
Fortunately, the impure heart can change. We can change. We have a wonderful example of this in the Old Testament. After King David’s sin with Bathsheba, he wrote Psalm 24. In that psalm, David said, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me”. David wasn’t perfect; but when he sinned, he prayed for forgiveness. That is why he is called a man after God’s own heart. He was that same man Samuel was to anoint king, the one God knew even then would be a man after His own heart.
The apostle Paul is a great example of the same thing in the New Testament. He persecuted Christians; but when he was confronted with the gospel, he had a change of heart. Read Acts 9 for the account of Paul’s conversion.
If we want to see God, we have to have a pure heart. With a pure heart, we will have a stronger faith and a desire to always do what is right. We may sin, but we will always be willing to ask for God’s forgiveness.
Sandra Oliver