We are on step six of our stairstep climb through the Beatitudes, Jesus’ opening teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."

The issue of purity of heart, seems to me, to be an internal issue rather than an outward issue. Which is confusing if we buy into Dale Bruner’s splitting of the Beatitudes into "God-directed need Beatitudes" (the first four) and "world-directed love Beatitudes" (the last four of which this beatitude is one). I think Dr. Bruner has a helpful perspective on the Beatitudes. But, "purity of heart," that’s an internal issue, isn’t it? Not "world-directed."

Well, yes and no. As with all the Beatitudes—this stairstep journey of Christian faith—the outward expression of Beatitude living must be fueled by the inward development of Beatitude living. Meekness is an inward developed characteristic that leads to meekness—"power under control"—toward others. The hunger and thirst for righteousness comes from within, but leads to acts of righteousness in the world. So, yes, purity of heart expresses the inward character of a Christian living out the Beatitudes, but, no, that’s not the end of it. Purity of heart finds its expression in world-directed acts of love.

There is a second "double-edge" to this Beatitude. Purity of heart has meaning in a future sense, and meaning in the present. In the future—in the fullness of kingdom living for eternity—purity of heart will be perfect purity. All the dross, all the impurities that compete for space in our hearts will be gone. We will know perfect purity of heart in the future. We will also see God in the fullness of heavenly glory—we will, in fact, be in the very presence of God. There is a future blessing to this beatitude for the pure in heart will see God. But, the blessing is not all future. There is a present significance to this beatitude as well. In the present, the Christian seeking to live out the Beatitudes is "perfecting purity." We will not reach perfect purity in this life—that’s for the future—but we strive for it as much as possible in this life. And the vision of God we receive in this life is not that of what we will see in the future. But as we live out the Beatitudes, we begin to recognize more and more the presence of God in our lives. An act of kindness expressed there, a difficulty endured there, an expression of grace there, the Spirit’s satisfaction of righteousness there—and God is in the midst of it. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

To speak of purity of "heart," is to speak of what is at the very core of our being. The concept of heart in the Bible addresses more than, literally, our hearts. It speaks to what is at the very center of our lives. Proverbs 4:23 says this, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Jesus speaks about the power of what we really value in life, what we really pursue in our lives, when he says, later in His Sermon on the Mount, "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also," (Matthew 6:21). Purity of heart is expressed in what is at the very center of our lives. Living out this beatitude—and all the Beatitudes—comes through making Christ our treasure, Christ the very center of our lives.

What about purity? Purity of heart comes out in our deeds, in our words, even in our thoughts. To begin with, the word for "pure" is kaqaros (katharos), from which we get our English word catharsis, which means "to cleanse," or "to purge." Purifying our hearts involves purging out anything unclean in our deeds, our words, our thoughts. We’ll not reach perfect purity, but we must try. We try by first asking God for help in purging out the unclean in our lives, then by following through in purging the unclean from our lives: asking God for forgiveness from actions, or words, or thoughts expressed in our lives that are outside His will for us; asking God for strength to turn away from such unclean things; taking steps to rid those things from our lives. What are you reading? What are you watching? What are you giving thought to? Anything impure in our lives is a hindrance to living out the blessing of this beatitude. We need a catharsis, a purging out of impurities in our lives so that we might clearer see God in our lives.

The good news in all of this is that we can work on our hearts. The gift from God is that the very thing He values most in us—our hearts, or the core of our being—is something we can develop. One of my favorite passages in all Scripture is 1 Samuel 16:7. The scene is Bethlehem, c. 1040 B.C. Samuel is there, sent by God to select the next king of Israel. Saul has been a disappointment. The next king is to come from the sons of Jesse. At a potluck held at the local Legion Hall, or something like that…the 1040 B.C. equivalent to that, Samuel has the sons of Jesse parade before him. The eldest son, Eliab, is first. "Wow," thinks Samuel, "this guy looks like a king! Surely this is God’s choice for the next king of Israel!" But God speaks His Spirit’s prompting to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things human beings look at. Humans look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart," (1 Samuel 16:7). Don’t you love that? "The world values outward appearances, but the Lord values the heart." And the gift in that is that we can work on the heart. If Jesus had said, "Blessed are those who are 6 feet tall or more," some of you would be left out of that blessing. Or, if Jesus had said, "Blessed are those who are pure in blonde hair," many of us are out of luck. "Blessed are those with pure blue eyes," leaves me out! But, of course, Jesus doesn’t say that. Rather, he says, "Blessed are the pure in heart," and every one of us can do something about that. The world values outside appearances—obsessively. How many billions of dollars are spent each year on improving outside appearances? Yet, what the Lord values is on the inside—the content of our character, the purity of our heart—and we can do something about that.

How much are you working on your heart? I don’t mean your exercise program to improve your physical condition—although that’s not a bad thing. But, how much are you working on your spiritual conditioning that you might develop purity of heart? It begins in living out the Beatitudes. Acknowledging our poverty of spirit, mourning our sin, developing an attitude of meekness, hungering and thirsting for God’s righteousness, acting with mercy is a good pathway to purity of heart. Close examination of our lives is another. Are our actions pure? Are the motives for our actions pure? It’s possible, you know, to take good action but have impure motives. Are our motives pure? Are our words pure? Do we speak to others with attitudes of purity or is there a harshness, an edge, perhaps even cruelty to our words? Are the topics of our conversations wholesome, or are they topics that in different company we would never have? Do we gossip? What do our words say about the quality of our heart? What about our thoughts? Yikes! Yes, even our thoughts! Are our thoughts pure or do we entertain thoughts and ideas that if played on a screen for public viewing would make us run and hide in shame? The topic of our thoughts and reflections is so important because words and deeds begin as thoughts. What we entertain in the screen of our minds leads to accepting as possible something we originally never imagined ourselves doing. What do you play and entertain on the screen of your imagination? It affects your purity of heart.

The apostle Paul knew of this connection between our thoughts and our deeds and the importance of what we entertained in our minds. In his letter to the Philippians, he writes, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things," (Philippians 4:8). Impure actions, impure motives for our actions, impure words begin with our thoughts. To live out this beatitude, we need to seriously examine our words, deeds and thoughts.

Doing so, however, and responding appropriately, results in seeing God. "Truly happy are those pure in heart, for they, and they alone, will see God." (Again, the "they" is in a position of emphasis so that the sense of the clause "they will see God" is "they, and they alone, will see God.") The pure of heart, in the future, will stand in the very presence of God. The pure of heart, in the present, will experience God in the midst of the events of their lives. In their worship, they will experience the presence of God. In their trials, they will be sustained by the sure presence of God. In their celebrations, they will rejoice with God. In their service, they will know of God’s presence with them—experiencing, as Jesus promised, that "when we have ministered to the sick in the least of our society, when we have fed the hungry, given drink to the thirsty, clothed the needy among the least in our society," we have done so to Jesus. Only the pure in heart will see God.

So, how’s your heart? Not your cholesterol level, or your rate of recovery to a normal heart rate after exercise, but the inner core of your being? Are you diligent at purging away the impurities around you? What kind of person are you when nobody else is in the room—the true test of the content of your character, the purity of your heart? When you are all alone, what are the topics of your thoughts? How would you rate yourself on the purity of your heart?

The Serendipity Bible suggests this examination: