May 20 - Matthew 5:8

May 20
Matthew 5:8

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

As we have seen in the first five beatitudes, those who live within the Kingdom of God humbly live according to the life of the teachings that Jesus gave in these beatitudes to truly enjoy God's kingdom. In God's kingdom, there is no room for the proud or self centered. The collection of Jesus’ teachings through the Sermon on the Mount deals with the attitudes, behaviour and responsibilities of those who have come under the lordship of Jesus Christ. As such, when we enter the Kingdom of God, we enter into a new life.

II Corinthians 5:17 tells us that when we come to Christ, we are a new creation - the old things (beliefs and attitudes) have passed away; behold, all things have become new. We now have Christ, through the power of His Holy Spirit to dwell within us to help us throughout life. No longer is our behavior to be governed by our old ways of doing things, or any set of rules or laws as laid down by society, but by the character of Jesus who wants to reproduce His character within us. As His followers, as we listen or read His teachings in our Bibles, our hearts want put it into practice. 

When Jesus spoke these beatitudes out to His disciples in the 1st century, who were Jewish, the main principal of the Jewish religion consisted in outward washings and cleansing that all Jews were expected to follow in the Law of Moses if they were every going to see eternal life with God.  As some of the Sadducees and Pharisees performed their rituals, it was done out of pride and not from a pure heart. Jesus was telling His disciples that God was not pleased with their pride and arrogance that came from a greedy impure heart. God always looks at the heart. Jesus demonstrated by example that to have a pure heart, one must be pure within.  The pure heart is humble, honest and sincere, not polluted by sins of greed and lust. The pure in heart is honest before God and man, and as a result received the greatest happiness with mankind and the greatest intimacy with God.

This then should be our greatest motivation for purity  - to see God - here on earth, as we develop our personal relationship and fellowship with Him, experiencing His presence. Being in His presence changes us from the inside out as we spend quality time with Him. Out of our daily time and experience with God then we will then see and experience Him for all eternity in the Kingdom of God.  That is our greatest happiness.

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