The Family

The Pure Heart

by Lisa Hall, international prayer coordinator for TWR Women of Hope

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” – Matthew 5:8

I wanted to see God, to know him intimately. As a 6-year-old girl who received Jesus as Savior and Lord, knowing him became my life pursuit. And in order to have an intimate relationship with God, I knew I needed to embrace having a pure heart.

It didn’t take long to learn that trying to be good or to have a “pure heart” through sheer willpower just doesn’t work. How often have we tried and failed to change our habits without success? Without God, our efforts at seeking purity simply become legalism as we try to please him by following the rules. Proverbs 23:7a tells us, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” And it turns out we all have a heart problem.

Becoming pure in heart is a work that God does in us as we pursue knowing and submitting to him. The Father graciously invites us to cooperate with him in our spiritual formation. When we honestly pray, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts” (Ps. 139:23), he will reveal areas in our lives that need transformation. And we can allow his Word and Spirit to guide us. In James 4:8 we are told to “come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” But how does this process of change actually work?

There is a key connection between our hearts and our minds. Whatever we decide in our minds to be true and valuable becomes the treasure of our hearts. Paul guides us in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We can actually be transformed by changing what we think. Paul then shares where we are to focus our minds: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Phil. 4:8).

God is clear in his Word that in the Christian life there are things that we are to embrace and things that we are to refrain from, so we need to choose wisely about how we live. The Bible has so much to say about where we are to focus our minds (Heb. 12:2; Col. 3:2), how to take our thoughts captive and submit them to him (2 Cor. 10:5), and why we need to abide in him (John 15).

But there is another important way that God purifies us. In my innocence as a 6-year-old, I didn’t understand that the cost of having an intimate relationship with God includes the pain of having your heart purified. Because our good God is pure and holy, he desires us to be like him. The Father takes us through the furnace of affliction in order for the impurities in our hearts to be burned away. In the testing, we must face what we hold dear in our hearts, our treasure, so that God can reveal if what we hold there is an idol.

Times of trial from God are difficult! Friends, let’s make sure we understand and embrace what God is trying to teach us so that we can receive the reward that he desires – becoming more like Jesus. We can remember Hebrews 12:11, which says, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

We have a choice. May we choose to cooperate with God in the good work he wants to do in our lives as he purifies us and ask ourselves: What treasures do we hold most dear in our hearts? What fears are we facing as we submit our treasures to God? Who or what is our first love?

Italicized emphasis in Bible verses was added.