When we think of something that is pure, we usually think of it as the real deal, authentic, or genuine. This next Beatitude states that the “pure in heart” will see God. Christians are many times labeled as hypocrites because people may see them not living the way of righteousness that the Lord teaches us. Being a hypocrite about any ideology can often be categorized as not being true to that way of thinking. People would see such a person as not the real deal, not authentic, or not true to the type of person they claim to be.
Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, teaches us about being “pure in heart,” which in the Greek, means to be genuine, authentic, or the real deal when we profess to live the way of righteousness taught to us by our Lord. We cannot profess to be a follower of Jesus Christ and continue to live a sinful life because people see this behavior and rightfully so, call us hypocrites.
Paul, in his second letter to the church in Corinth, speaks of the proving of our love by others through being genuine, or pure in heart, to them. Living this way of righteousness, by being pure in heart, can actually lead others to Christ and that’s the example Christ himself gives us. He was pure in heart or genuine when gave up the heavenly realms to come to this earth to live and teach the way of righteousness and then give his life for us. II Corinthians 8:8-9 says, “I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
Christ goes on in his teaching on the mount to say that those who are pure in heart, “will see God.” The word “will” is a future tense verb meaning that when our lives are over here on earth, we will be in the presence of the Almighty God who created us. What a wonderful and comforting thought to be in the presence of God Himself and His son Jesus Christ if we will strive to be this “pure in heart”! Let the reader be encouraged to exercise our hearts in love for the Lord, to be pure and genuinely devoted to His will. The Lord God is a loving and merciful God, who wants all of His children to be “pure in heart” and to see each one when our lives on earth are over.
If you have a question about God’s Word, God Himself, or of a Christian spiritual nature, please send it to me at [email protected] and I will do my best, using scripture, to get you an answer.
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