By Sam Dull

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

How many of you would like to see God? I know I certainly would. I would like to see him face to face. I want to know what he really looks like. I want to see him interact with me just like I would interact with a person. Wouldn’t you? If I can see God face to face, then I would know God is real. Not just real in my prayers and in my worship, but really real. This beatitude tells us that we will see God if we are pure in heart. Okay, how does one get a pure heart. And if you have a pure heart, how can we “see God”.

When we talk about the heart in this context, we are talking about the interior life of a person. We are talking about that person’s mind, and what they are thinking about most of the time. We are talking about that person’s will, what they really desire for their lives. What do you think about most of the time? What are the desires in your life that you are thinking about most of the time? Does God make it to the top of your thoughts and desires? From the inside can come both good and evil.

Jesus often called the Pharisees hypocrites for living their outward lives as if they were “righteous” and “holy”, but what was on their hearts was anything but righteous and holy. Jesus said it is what’s in your heart that really matters. Jesus could see what’s in the heart of a person.

So, what is a pure heart? When we think of the word pure, what comes to mind is something that is clean, something that is uncontaminated. Does anyone think of crystal-clear water when you think of the word pure?

When I used to go backpacking, I took with me a handy little device called a PUR water filter pump. You need water to survive in the wilderness. But the water in the wilderness has lots of impurities. Even though the water may look crystal-clear from the outside, on the inside, under the microscope you will find a lot of little harmful creatures swimming around in the water that can cause you major problems for your health. So, you take this water filter pump and pump the impure water through the filter where the impurities are trapped and allow the pure water to go into your water bottle. It takes work to get the water pumped through the filter to the bottle.

Perhaps this is not a perfect analogy, but we can think of those little impurities in the water as the sin in our lives. If we drink that water, we will get sick. Our lives become unhealthy. We can think of the pump as Jesus going to the cross for our sins to pay the price of all our sins so that we can be forgiven and made pure. You must pump the water through the filter to get the water purified. That takes work. It’s a price you must pay, although nothing in comparison to the price that Christ paid for us on the cross. The filter is like Jesus taking on all our sins, trapping our sins in his body as he dies on the cross for us.

Our impure hearts become transformed by the power of Jesus sacrifice for us. We become new people with a new heart, a pure heart that puts its full trust in God, that desires to live a life for God’s purpose. It is single, and unified in its intent toward God. A pure heart cannot be a divided heart. It cannot have two masters to serve. Either we serve God, or we serve the world. A pure heart chooses only to serve God. A person with a pure heart allows the image of God to be fully unveiled in their lives. When others observe the pure hearted person what they see in that person is Christ.

So how does this transformation to a pure heart help us to see God? First of all, we need to understand that seeing in this context means more than seeing with our physical eyes. A pure heart gives us different eyes to see with. A pure heart gives us eyes to see with faith, hope, and love. Paul writes, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. In the meantime, faith, hope, and love abide.” 1 Cor 13:12. Paul could see God all around him, because it was Christ who lived in him. The abiding faith, hope, and love of Christ that was in him, gave him sight to see as God sees things.

What does God see? God sees goodness, light, eternal joy, and creation as it was intended by God to be. An author once said this, “to have a pure heart means that wherever you look, whatever you are looking at, what you see is God.” With a pure heart we can see God in all things. And that means in human beings as well.

When you look up at the sky you see stars. Thousands of stars. Millions of stars. When astronomers look at those same stars, what they see are galaxies, constellations, and planets. With a pure heart we can see people the way God does, like an astronomer sees stars. Others see coincidences while the pure in heart see God incidences, God’s hand at work in people’s lives. Others see a lucky break while the pure in heart see the power of God at work. Others see chaos while the pure in heart see a sovereign God working all things for good for those who love him. Others sometimes think about the possibility they may end up in heaven, while the pure in heart know for sure they will be in heaven and see God face to face. The pure in heart see God’s kingdom reigning now and forever.

With a pure heart we can see what God sees in other people. Instead of seeing a person who is hopeless, we can see the hope that God can give to that person. Instead of seeing an unlovable person, God sees a person where love can change the heart forever. The next time you see a person at work, the grocery store, the newspaper boy or girl, a stranger wandering the streets, the person that brings you most trouble in your life, try to see them as God sees them. Will you see Christ in that person? Where do you see God in the faces that surround you each day? Ask God to give you a pure heart so you can see God everywhere you go and in everything you do. For his glory! Amen