Are We "Pure in Heart"?

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

If we go to Church, I am sure we have heard this (as well as the rest of the Beatitudes) many times. How often do we think about what it means to be "pure in heart"?

In this verse, the Greek word for "pure" is the word "katharos" (koth-ah-rahs). The meanings of this word are:

"Purified by Fire"

"Vine Cleansed by pruning and so fitted to bear fruit."

"Free from corrupt desire or guilt." "Blameless, innocent." 

When a metal-such as silver-is placed into fire, it removes impurities to make it as pure as possible. When you prune a plant,  you are cutting away its dead or useless parts. This serves to help it grow bigger fruit and blooms.

In John 15:1-6, Jesus talks about how He is the "True Vine" and His Father the "vinedresser". Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes so that they can bear even more. Those that don't grow anything are "cast away" into the fire. We are to be the branches. If we aren't allowing God to purify us, we will be useless to Him.

The only way God can use us is if we let Him rule over our hearts. Being pure in heart means that we love God more than anything in the world. 

When we stop allowing God to keep purifying us, these things usually happen:

1. We start getting desensitized to sin and making moral  compromises.

2.We Spend less time in God's word and in Prayer.

3.We begin to care less and less about our actions, and the things we say.

4. We begin allowing hatred in our hearts (gossip, envy, unwholesome talking)

What is getting in the way of being what God wants you to be? Entertainment? A guy? Another person? Your dreams?

In and of themselves, there isn't anything inherently wrong with these things. We just need to consider if they are pulling us closer to Him or away from Him. We need to step back and be honest with ourselves.

It isn't something we like to think about, but what if you were to die right now? Truth is, you could die at any moment. What if Jesus were to return right now? Are you allowing God to make you "pure in heart"? Everything that is getting in the way does not matter in comparison to God.

Philippians 3:8-11 says, "Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not  having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."