(Mat 5:8 NIV) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
What does it mean to have a pure heart?
Pure in integrity
(Psa 24:4 NIV) He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.
(1 Chr 29:17 NIV) I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent.
To have a pure heart, we need to be a person of integrity, always telling the truth.
Pure in our love towards God
(Psa 24:4 NIV) He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.
(Ezek 36:25-26 NIV) I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. {26} I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
(James 4:8 NIV) Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
(Mat 22:37-38 NIV) Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ {38} This is the first and greatest commandment.
Our heart is pure when our love for God is unadulterated, when we love God with ALL our heart. This means that we should guard against anything that we love more than God.
Would you be doing something else rather than spending time with Him? When you pray and worship Him, are you distracted by many things?
Pure in our hidden man
(1 Pet 3:3-4 KJV) Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; {4} But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
(Mat 23:25-28 NIV) “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. {26} Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. {27} “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. {28} In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
The heart is used to symbolize our inner man, what we truly are. Jesus accused the Pharisees of appearing clean to others on the outside but their inner man is corrupt.
Our inner man cannot be seen by others. It includes our thoughts and motives. Are these pure?
What does it mean to see God?
To see God is to know Him
(1 Cor 13:12 NIV) Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
If we want to know God and have a fuller revelation of Him, we need to be pure in heart. That means being pure in our motives, pure in our devotion and pure in our inner man.