“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God.”
-Matthew 5: 8
-Matthew 5: 8
One of my least favorite chores is
cleaning the bathroom. With three little ones in the house all
learning how to brush their own teeth, the mirror is perpetually
splattered with spots of toothpaste and smudges of hands. All my
cleaning efforts seem wasted when the mirror only stays shiny for the
two seconds that my children are out of the bathroom. I often
question the point of even having mirrors - in many ways, they only
seem to bring more pain than pleasure!
How similar my heart is to that mirror
– it so easily gets smudged and splattered with my sin nature, my
unknowning acceptance of Satan's lies, and my latent love of the
world. With all this muck mixed into it, my heart cannot possibly
reflect the beauty of Christ in me, but instead it spews out anger,
selfishness and despair. God's presence seems to vanish, and I cannot
see him in my life.
But how do I get the dirt out – all
my self-efforts at purity are futile (much like cleaning my mirror
with preschoolers waiting in the wings, toothbrushes in hand!). Who
can possibly keep her own heart clean? Christ answers that in Matthew
19:26: “With men it is impossible, but with God all things are
possible.”
Jesus' words prompt me to cry out, as
David did, “create in me a pure heart!” By faith I must trust
that God's Spirit in my heart will help me maintain its purity by
enabling me to live a life of growing devoted obedience to His Word.
When seeking God's Kingdom is my primary goal in life, He will purify
my heart till it becomes more like His, focused on and concerned with
one thing: His glory (not my gain). Then, as Christ promises, I will
see God – His grace manifested in my life, His glory all around me,
and ultimately, when my life is over, what untold joy I will know as
I see Him as He really is, face to face - in heaven (and as we
know, thankfully no spots and smudges are allowed there!).
