Preparing to See God
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)
Beloved,
My wife thrives in
details. She loves schedules and plans. Before taking a long trip, she usually
packs the day before while I usually pack ten minutes before we leave. Early in
our marriage, we were taking one trip to visit my family in California. As we
waited in the line to go through security at the airport, my wife looked at me
and asked (as she has done for every flight we have ever taken together), “Do
you have your driver’s license?” I reached back and patted my pocket, making my
eyes big saying, “Oh no!! I forgot my wallet!!” Her jaw dropped in disbelief,
“Are you serious?” Her genuine fear of missing the flight made me quickly
confess that I was only kidding. Although I may not love details, even I knew
that if I wanted to see my family, I had to have my ticket and my ID. My desire
to see my family affected my preparation.
Do you desire to see
God? Does that desire affect how you live? Jesus makes a wonderful promise for
those who desire to see God in saying, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
shall see God.” There is a requirement for someone who wants to see God; one
must be pure in heart. Purity of heart means one lives with integrity,
righteousness, and morality driven from sincere motives. The “pure in heart”
have a single-minded devotion to live for the glory and honor of Jesus Christ.
They are like the blessed man in Psalm 1 who does not walk in the counsel of
the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.
He lives rightly.
Jesus Christ is the only
one who perfectly lived with a pure heart. He committed no sin and lived for
the glory of his heavenly Father. And yet, he died in our place so that we
would live for righteousness. The
Christian forsakes immorality and sin because they want to see God. The desire
to see God overtakes the desire of the flesh. The pleasure of God is more
important than the pleasures of sin. The Christian has been justified by Christ
death and cleansed to walk in righteousness.
We all will continue to
battle the sinful desires of the flesh, so how do we overtake those desires? We
replace our desire for worldly things with a desire to see God. Jesus Christ
has said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God!!” What is
better than seeing God!! If we want to change our behavior, we must to change
our desires. Beloved, prepare to see God by striving to live with a pure heart
for Jesus Christ, “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness
and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for
good works.” (Titus 2:14)