Blessed are the Pure in Heart // Matthew 5:8

I want to read today’s verse in the Message paraphrase: “You’re blessed when you get your inside world — your mind and heart — put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.” This Beatitude is a direct follow-up to yesterday’s on mercy and how it helps us see the importance of empathy, or getting in another’s skin. When we think about being pure in heart – and being in balance between our inner and outer world – there are three ways to view this concept. The first is to be washed clean, which is exactly what Jesus does for us. The second is free from impurities, like in a garden. The third is pure and undiluted, which in the Greek refers to a substance (commonly wine) that was not diluted with water. The enemy wants us to dilute our convictions out of a sense of tolerance and acceptance. Compromise doesn’t have to be a dirty word, but when we dilute our convictions and allow the seeds of weeds to grow, we become impure and need a good cleansing. So, this speaks to the heart and mind of a person, and Jesus wants us to seek a purity of intention and motive. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement referred to this as holy perfection, for which all believers are called to strive. This does not mean we won’t make any mistakes, but what is does mean is we try not to, but if we do, we seek to make it right, reconciling with God and others. This gets to the heart of God’s Gospel of love which Jesus referred to as recorded in Matthew 5:48 when He said, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (ESV). Sure, it might seem impossible, but never forget that with God, all things are possible!