What Is A Pure Heart?

“Blessed are the pure in heart: For they shall see God.”
Matthew 5:8 (KJV)

If you look at wrongdoing and proclaim it as evil, this does not stem from an evil or defiled heart, but beware of deciding hastily. John 7:24 records Jesus as saying, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”

So how do we join this to the scripture in Titus 1:15, that says, “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.” And then there is the scripture in I Thessalonians 5:22, “Abstain from all appearance of evil.”

It is true that no matter what you do, someone can find evil in it. A friend of mine said a neighbour thought that she was lesbian because she only ever had female friends to stay overnight. But if she had entertained male friends overnight, they would have thought she was a fornicator. You can’t win!

We need to be careful not to pass judgment without knowing the facts, and always to give the benefit of the doubt. A pure heart looks with the eyes of God, who died for sinners and has unlimited love and mercy. Matthew 10:16 says, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”

Prayer
I want to have a pure mind, Father in Heaven. Help me not to see evil when there is none and to give the benefit of the doubt; but also not to be so oblivious to bad that I overlook and tolerate sin in myself. Help me to heed the words in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Amen

Study by Nancy Silcox

“Has the light gone out for you” is taken from “Bodysnatchers” by Radiohead (In Rainbows, 2007).

The quote “it ain’t necessarily so” from the opera Porgy and Bess, music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin.