Disciples are pure.

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

This is a tough one, isn't it?

What exactly does it mean to be pure in heart? I took a quick look at google definitions and found this:

free from discordant qualities

Which was all great and good, until I had to look up discordant.

not in agreement or harmony; "views discordant with present-day ideas"

Ah, not it starts to make some sense. Something is pure when it is free from qualities that make it out of agreement or harmony. Something that lives in tension all the time can't possibly be pure, can it? To be pure means that everything works together, everything flows together, everything fits together. When you look at pure gold, there's not an ounce of anything else in there, all the gold flows together quite nicely and creates something exceptionally beautiful.

So what does it mean to be pure in heart? What does it look like to have a heart that is completely harmonious? And for that matter, harmonious with what (or who)?

Let's make some assumptions here. The first is that when Jesus says "Pure in heart", and we take that to mean living in harmony with something or someone, that the someone is in fact God. To be pure in heart means to live with a heart like God's heart, to be in complete harmony with God's will, God's actions, God's desires. Purity in heart means to live the way God called us to live.

Someone should do a blog series about that...

The question takes a turn here. We develop a problem, specifically the problem of sin. Speaking from a personal place, I know first hand that sin can creep into a person's heart and make it shall we say "discordant". As long as there is sin in my life, as long as there is sin in the world, I don't know that I'll ever actually be pure in heart.

Or will I?

Is it possible to overthrow the power of sin in a person's life? Is it possible for Christ to come in, clean us up, and rather than waiting until we die to see heaven, to actually align our hearts with God's for any significant period of time? Or are we doomed to live a completely discordant (hey, it's new, I'm going to use it as much as I can!) life this side of heaven?

I think it is possible, through the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to live a pure life. I know it seems far fetched, and I know it seems ludicrous, but I think it's possible. More over, I think it's dangerous to believe it's impossible. If I don't think that I'll ever be able to have a pure heart, then it's not very likely that I'll work on purifying my heart. I'll just wait until I die, and Jesus will clean up my mess when I get to heaven.

That doesn't sound like a very exciting life to me...

So take some time this day to clean up your heart. What would it look like to live in harmony with God? It would probably take some time in God's word, but more than just reading it. It would probably take going out and doing something about it. And it would probably mean doing that without regard for the kind of reward that might be in it for you. It would mean living for God, simply because you wanted to live for God.

More tomorrow!

Jason