Heart Washing

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

-  Matthew 5:8

Does anyone else find this verse a little intimidating?  When something is pure, it has no contamination; it is completely one thing, without anything else mixed in.  The word "pure" is an absolute; being almost pure is like being a little pregnant or slightly dead.  To me, being pure in heart implies that I'm supposed to be perfect.  With apologies to Ivory Soap, 99.9% pure just isn't good enough.  I could never hope to achieve real purity.

However, if we look a little closer, we find something a little more reasonable.  The word translated "pure" comes from a root meaning "to cleanse."  If we go with that translation, we have a different ball game.  To be completely pure in heart is a hopeless cause, but to be clean in heart is a different matter.  When something has become impure, purifying it can be a difficult process.  If something is no longer clean, it usually just needs a good scrubbing.

That is where we all find ourselves on a regular basis.  We start out with good motives, but we fall short.  We lose our tempers, our patience, our good sense, or some combination of the above, and we do or say something that we shouldn't have done or said.  We go along minding our own business when we are assaulted by an image that provokes thoughts we have no business thinking.  All the little failures collect, like little stains on our clothes, until we end up with spiritual BO.  We need a good scrubbing.

God, in His mercy, is waiting with the soap.  "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  (1 John 1:9)  The God who demands that we have clean hearts is the Father who made a way to cleanse them.  All we have to do is to admit that we got dirty, and ask Him to wash us.

When we do, Jesus said that we will see God.  God wants to show Himself to us, but our impure hearts cloud our spiritual vision.  When we surrender to God's grace and allow Him to cleanse our hearts, we will be able to see His presence again.  Have you seen God lately?  If not, maybe it's time to take a good, honest look at yourself and see if your heart needs to be sent to the cross for a cleaning.