It's not about Me

by Francine Biere
Published September 25, 2006

Blessed are the pure in heart … Matthew 5:8 Part 1

On face value, this beatitude would seem the hardest to acquire and live out.

Regardless of our intentions, reality has a way of stepping in and blemishing our hearts. The truth is, if we focus on ourselves, the "purity" Jesus talks about will never be obtainable. Focusing on self translates into selfishness. And while all the beatitudes have inward and outward evidence, it's hard to have a perfect heart.

A pure heart is hard to describe from any angle, especially with only a human perspective. Purity means undefiled, spotless, or unblemished.

That's why it's so important to build on the teachings of the previous beatitudes.

True, perfection is a goal toward which we all strive to attain, but we must accept the fact that there was only one truly perfect and pure heart – Jesus'. He is the unblemished lamb.

If we look around in today's world for examples, I think we'd be hard-pressed to find one who is pure in heart. People believe in a multitude of things and pursue those beliefs with a pure heart – but that's only through the world's point of view. To truly understand what Jesus was saying here, we need to strip away the world's rhetoric where political correctness is almost mandated.

Stepping out of the "world view" can be a lonely place. That's where selfishness can rob us of our desire to be pure in heart. But this may also be the turning point in laying aside our selfish desires and submitting all we are to Jesus and allowing Him to work on our hearts.

Pure in heart can be camouflaged without us even knowing it. It may be that we are sincere in ministry to others. There's nothing wrong with that. However, when our efforts get in the way of what God is trying to do, then we must be able to step back. In other words, when our efforts at ministering are only to satisfy our desires, rather than God's intentions, we are no longer operating from a pure heart. We're operating from a selfish one.

The harsh truth is that most of what we do has a selfish motive, be it for a cause, for those less fortunate, or for our family. These aren't bad things, but too often, we are caught up into believing these personal crusades are evidence of being pure in heart. The harder truth is our pursuit of purity must be focused on Christ and Him alone.

Pure in heart eliminates every worldly thought and deed and instead taps into God's supernatural presence and we begin to grasp that it truly isn't about us. Once we get out of our own way, we see with sparkling clarity the essence of being pure in heart.

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