Weekly Pursuit – June 23, 2013-June 29, 2013
Verses:
Matt. 5:8
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
James 4:8
“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-souled!”
The Gospel of Matthew speaks more concerning the heart than it does concerning the spirit. This confirms that the problems with the believers’ growth in life is not mainly with their spirit but with their heart. According to Matthew 5:8, in order to see God, we need a pure heart. If we lack spiritual
revelation, light, and sight, this indicates that our heart is impure. In order for us to see God, we need to be pure, single, in our heart. To be pure in heart is to be single in purpose, to have the single goal of accomplishing God’s will for God’s glory (1 Cor. 10:31).
In order to purify our heart, we need grace. Furthermore, the more our heart is purified, the more room Christ will have within us. To purify our heart is not a once-and-for-all matter but a matter that we must take care of DAY by DAY and moment by moment. ToDAY we may be pure in heart, but
tomorrow we may have another goal in addition to the Lord. Anything that competes with the Lord in our being, no matter how spiritual or scriptural it may be, causes our heart to become impure. Thus, we need to receive the Lord’s grace to deal with our heart continually. The more we deal with our
heart, the more purified it will be. We should not consider that as we deal with our heart, at some point it will become absolutely pure. Our dealing with our heart is according to the Lord’s shining, and His shining is gradual. He progressively intensifies His shining as we deal with the items that He brings to light, so that each time our heart is more thoroughly examined and purified. To some extent, I believe that this matter of the purification of our heart will continue until we are raptured, because as fallen creatures we are complicated and are often dishonest with ourselves and with the Lord.