A Pure Heart, Me?

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

   "The Meaning. This beatitude picks up an Old Testament image and applies it to its fulfillment in the kingdom. It describes both an inner purity and a singleness of mind. The "heart" is used in the Bible for the will, the choices. And so to be pure in heart means that the decisions one makes, the desires one has, the thoughts and intentions of the will, are untarnished by sin, and that the will is determined to be pleasing to God. From the pure of heart come only good things, acts of love and mercy, desires for righteousness and justice, decisions that please God."

   I must confess that most of the time when I hear this Scripture from Matthew 5, I just pass right on by, saying that this is true and sounds good to me. I don't give much thought to any meaning or why Jesus put this in this teaching time.

   I need to think about what God wants when He says that He will bless those whose lives are built on this principle. If I want to be blessed, and I do, then I need to know what all of this means.

   What is a pure heart? The Bible indicates that this "heart status" is a key to living to please God. James equates an impure heart with being double minded. That is trying to live with one foot in God's kingdom and one foot in the world. It is appearing to be godly on the outside and being worldly on the inside. It is the motives of the heart and also the actions of the hands. In short, a lot of times, it is me.

   Only God can bring about a pure heart. I cannot clean up my act on my own, even if I say I want to.

   I have two prayers today:
       forgive me for my double-mindedness
       create in me a new heart,

      Amen