In his book What's So Amazing About Grace, Philip Yancey writes, "As a child, I put on my best behaviour on Sunday mornings, dressing up for God and for Christians around me. It never occurred to me that church was a place to be honest."
We continue our series Happiness in Jesus' Style. For our brief meditation
During our annual sports there is an incident I'll never forget. There was this one particular runner warming up, who looked very impressive. He had a stylish uniform as compared to others, as well as some custom socks and some colourful shoes, and all the most fashionable accessories. He went through his warm-ups in a professional manner, with all the right moves and right preparation. I was just waiting to see this guy run. But when the pistol went off, I almost burst our laughing. This "impressive looking runner" was the slowest guy on the track. And not only the slowest, he didn't even complete the race. He looked so good, but he performed so badly.
The world in which we live today, appearance is more important than substance: whether it be in athletics, in politics or in church. But we need to understand something very important this morning: appearance may mean everything for this world - but it is not so in the Kingdom of God. It is the substance that matters in the Kingdom; the heart - and that is the point of this sixth beatitude, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. "
During our study about the quality of being meek, one of the psalm helped us to understand the meaning in a better way. We find similar foreshadowing of "purity of heart" in Psalm 24:3-4. The Psalmist asks: "Who shall ascend the hill of the holy Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?" In other words, the Psalmist is asking who can fellowship with God? Who can go to heaven to see Him? I feel this is the conscious or subconscious desire of every person. This is what we were made for: to stand before God, and to be fulfilled in His presence.
But who can enjoy that blessing? The next verse answers the question: "He who has clean hand and a pure heart.
Most of the time, when the Bible speaks of "the heart", it is not talking about the physical organ that pumps the blood through our system. It is speaking of our inner self: our spirit, our soul, our mind. In Jeremiah 17:10, God says: "I the Lord search the heart; and test the mind". Here we see that "heart" and "mind" are parallels, which tells us they are synonyms. So when Jesus is talking about "heart" here, He means our inner self, as opposed to our outward, physical body.
In Mark 7:1-7 we see the Pharisees asking Jesus about the disciples not following the tradition of eating with clean hands.
Here we see Jesus reprimanding them for being ritualistic about their outward "cleansing". Jesus told them that they were more concerned with the "traditions" of outward cleansing like washing hands and cups and dishes, etc. but their "hearts", their inward thoughts and emotions, their love towards God was far far away. Jesus was wanting them to understand that it is not the outward cleansing that we should be concerned about, but the cleanness of our heart.
Dear friends, this Lenten Season can we see God by being pure in our hearts.
May the Lord help us to have/attain this purity. God Bless you.
We continue our series Happiness in Jesus' Style. For our brief meditation
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Matthew 5:8
During our annual sports there is an incident I'll never forget. There was this one particular runner warming up, who looked very impressive. He had a stylish uniform as compared to others, as well as some custom socks and some colourful shoes, and all the most fashionable accessories. He went through his warm-ups in a professional manner, with all the right moves and right preparation. I was just waiting to see this guy run. But when the pistol went off, I almost burst our laughing. This "impressive looking runner" was the slowest guy on the track. And not only the slowest, he didn't even complete the race. He looked so good, but he performed so badly.
The world in which we live today, appearance is more important than substance: whether it be in athletics, in politics or in church. But we need to understand something very important this morning: appearance may mean everything for this world - but it is not so in the Kingdom of God. It is the substance that matters in the Kingdom; the heart - and that is the point of this sixth beatitude, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. "
During our study about the quality of being meek, one of the psalm helped us to understand the meaning in a better way. We find similar foreshadowing of "purity of heart" in Psalm 24:3-4. The Psalmist asks: "Who shall ascend the hill of the holy Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?" In other words, the Psalmist is asking who can fellowship with God? Who can go to heaven to see Him? I feel this is the conscious or subconscious desire of every person. This is what we were made for: to stand before God, and to be fulfilled in His presence.
But who can enjoy that blessing? The next verse answers the question: "He who has clean hand and a pure heart.
Most of the time, when the Bible speaks of "the heart", it is not talking about the physical organ that pumps the blood through our system. It is speaking of our inner self: our spirit, our soul, our mind. In Jeremiah 17:10, God says: "I the Lord search the heart; and test the mind". Here we see that "heart" and "mind" are parallels, which tells us they are synonyms. So when Jesus is talking about "heart" here, He means our inner self, as opposed to our outward, physical body.
In Mark 7:1-7 we see the Pharisees asking Jesus about the disciples not following the tradition of eating with clean hands.
Here we see Jesus reprimanding them for being ritualistic about their outward "cleansing". Jesus told them that they were more concerned with the "traditions" of outward cleansing like washing hands and cups and dishes, etc. but their "hearts", their inward thoughts and emotions, their love towards God was far far away. Jesus was wanting them to understand that it is not the outward cleansing that we should be concerned about, but the cleanness of our heart.
Dear friends, this Lenten Season can we see God by being pure in our hearts.
May the Lord help us to have/attain this purity. God Bless you.
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