This message, which includes the Beatitudes, wasn’t meant to tell everyone what their lives look like. The Sermon on the Mount was taught at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and announced the inauguration of the kingdom of God. – 1 John 1:7-9įaith in Jesus leads to a pure heart that can see God. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. So how, then, can we ever “see God” like Jesus said the pure of heart would? But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. There is no darkness, no blemish, no sin in God at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth,” (1 John 1:5-6). John reminds us of the vast difference between Jesus and the rest of mankind, “ This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. I give because I want to receive, I serve because I want recognition, or I take care of my kids and still resent their demands. And even when I am doing things right, the motivations of my heart are so often wrong. It’s not always pretty, and it certainly isn’t pure. My kids are late, there are 100 things to do, and my mouth quickly reveals my heart to my family and myself. A few chapters later, Jesus reminds us that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” In my life, the true condition of my heart is usually exposed first thing in the morning. Jesus is consistently concerned, not with outward appearances, but with the condition of our hearts. My heart, the innermost part of who I am, is anything but pure. Pure means clean, without blemish, perfect. The greatest desire of my heart is to see God, but this same heart that so desires God, well, to say it isn’t pure is an understatement. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. If you’re like me, reading through the Beatitudes can feel like a lesson in failure, none more so than when Jesus proclaims, “ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” ( Matthew 5:8).
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