A Pure Heart

https://tonyevans.org/tony-evans-sermons/blessed-are-the-pure-in-heart

Matthew 5:8

Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.

Above is a sermon by Tony Evans talking about “the pure in heart shall see God.” It is one of the Beatitudes found in The Gospel of Matthew. Please listen to it, it is great.

If you listen to the sermon, Tony Evans does a much better job of this, but I thought the connection between this Beatitude and reality was great. Here is a short comparison.

If you want to see God, the Beatitudes tell us we have to have a pure heart. Well, what does a pure heart look like? If you are following the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, then your life will bear good fruit. Good fruit is something we get nourishment from. In other words, it is healthy food, the fruit of the Spirit.

So what does it look like when we do not have a pure heart? Romans 1:28-31 tells us, “28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent ways of doing evil. They disobey their parents. 31 They have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, and no mercy.”

Take a look at the qualifications for a heart that is not pure in the above verse. Basically, you are a nasty person in most respects. So today, take a test and be the fly on the wall of your own life. Is your day filled with verses 29-31, or, hopefully, does your life describe someone walking out the fruit of the Spirit? Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Sobering as it is, it is a great test every day.

Prayer: Father, help me to live out the fruit of the Spirit. I pray that my life is a cross-section of You in purpose and duty. I pray that I will no longer listen to or heed any ungodly advice or counsel, in Jesus’ name, amen.