Purity of heart means a heart that is undivided, fully loyal to the Lord Jesus and free from all compromise with sin. So Christ is telling us as Christian men and leaders to be unmixed and undivided in our loyalty to Him. Our loyalty to Him ought to supersede and rank far superior to other loyalties we might have, such as family, work, hobbies, the church, etc.... While it is fine and of good character to be loyal to people and good causes in this world, they are to never rival or supplant our loyalty to Jesus Christ. He is God the King, so our allegiance must be first to Him.
There are many reasons why this is difficult for us. As the hymn writer said, “Prone to wander — Lord, I feel it — prone to leave the God I love....” Add to our own human tendency to wander away from our loyalty to Christ, the tempting reality that the life of sin is constantly portrayed as pleasurable and satisfying by the people we work with and by the media (movie stars, TV commercials). And that’s not all; peer pressure is at times a strong influence in moving us away from an undivided heart. We inordinately desire approval and acceptance by our peers (we want to be one of the guys) so we end up compromising in some way — participating in dirty joking with the guys at work, or passing on pornography received via email, or perhaps lingering at or even frequenting these same sites and on and on we could go.
How do we move toward a pure heart? First, it is received by faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 15:9). Jesus lived a pure life. He never compromised with sin. And He was always entirely devoted to God the Father. In Christ we have been given the purity of heart we need. His purity of heart has been credited to our account. We need to recognize this and rejoice! Second, we need to pursue a matching pure heart of our own. How so? We need to ask God in prayer to give us a pure heart, the way King David asked in Psalm 51. Then we need to read the Word of God which has the power to purify our hearts (Ephesians 5:26). Men, look at your men’s groups as a practical means of helping each other develop and maintain pure hearts for Jesus Christ.
What does Christ promise? The pure in heart will see God. This means that we will be admitted into the presence of the King of Kings so that we see Him face to face and behold His glory. We now see images of His glory in the words and works of Scripture and in creation. But when we get to heaven, His glory will no longer have to be deduced. We will experience and enjoy it directly (Rev. 21:23). As John Piper says, “The beauty of His holiness will be tasted directly like honey on the tongue.” Such a promise ought to be plenty of motivation for pursuing purity of heart.
Men, consider these questions as you pray for purity of heart:
What interests or activities do I have that tend to compete with my loyalty to Christ?
To put this first question into perspective, how conscious are you of always being in God’s presence?
What matters more to you – honoring that presence of God or not wanting to be different from the guys when off-color stories are told?
What desires do I need to say no to in order to put Christ first?
How can I pray for my brothers and encourage them to greater purity of heart?
1 comment:
The Thursday Evening group had a thoughtful discussion about this beatitude. Purity in heart is usually not on the list of manly qualities. Yet, it is what God wants from us. We can agree with the cry of David to create a clean heart within us!
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