“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Indeed what wonderful words these are that fell from the gracious lips of our dear Lord. The lessons these words convey seem very simple limn the surface vet like the jewel that they are, the more you examine them, the more beauty they display. It may take years of Christian life and experience before we may really appreciate their full worth. “Blessed are the pure in heart.” What does it mean to be pure? It suggests cleanliness, righteous deeds and actions, a separation from all impurity ; to be undefiled by anything foreign to he requirements of Almighty God. Perhaps a simple illustration is water—pure water is impossible in the natural, since even taken from the clearest mountain stream it carries with it some impurities. If we were a faddist, and pure water were our desire, then we would need to sterilize every container and the water itself before we partook of it. We realise then that pure water is seldom available by us, and yet in all normal circumstances we suffer no ill effects from the use of the water we use. Why ? Because God in his great work of creation gave us bodies capable (providing we are healthy) of resistance to impurities.
Coming back to our lesson then, it might be better to say evil (contrariness to the purpose of God) of any nature is impurity and any who have no resistance to evil can ever hope to be pure, and therefore unlikely to see God. Perhaps our opinions alter as we journey through life, and indeed they should regarding this subject of purity. When we first come into the Truth we believe to be pure in doctrine the first essential point. This truth still remains with us because Scripturally speaking there is only one true Faith, pure because it separates itself from the dogmas of men. Pure, because with it we can step cut from the dogmas of Christendom—and all that goes with it. Here again we must be careful that we do not become faddists, for we can be carried to the point where we feel we must draw ourselves completely away from everything and everyone in order to keep ourselves pure. The true pattern is set in the natural. God has given us in our rebirth as new creatures in Christ Jesus, a force of resistance to evil and impurity. He has made it possible for us to be associated with impurity and yet not be contaminated. By His word planted in our hearts he has provided us with hatred for evil. As the Psalmist says, “every evil way do I hate.” He hated the impurities because the entrance of God’s word was a stimulant and a sterilizer of his mind and heart.
So we come back to the essence of the verse, “blessed are the pure in heart”. All outward appearances of piety avails nothing unless the heart is pure. The Pharisees and scribes considered themselves pure, holding the teachings of Moses in high esteem. They wouldn’t mix with or be seen keeping company with the publicans, lest it contaminated them. What we must realise is that they condemned themselves even as we do if we follow their example. God intends us to put faith in his cleansing word, and let it be active in our lives to bring purity. We can’t purify anything else but our own hearts. God will, through His word purify other men’s hearts in the same way he does ours.
So it remains then to cast aside some of the false care we display, take the Gospel in its purity to others in all walks of life. We are armoured in our healthy minds to be able to throw off the impurity. One present-day example of selflessness is the picture of our brethren in Jamaica preaching in the T. B. Sanatorium preaching without regard to their health, no thought or fear of contamination.
God has given them the protection of faith and love, and by the administration of His word to at least cleanse and make pure the minds of their hearers, and so prepare them for the day when God through Christ will change our vile bodies and fashion them like unto His own spiritual body. Is there time to concern ourselves too much over the impurities around us, or should we not be spending the precious time in purifying our own hearts first, and then with the living testimony go forth into any field of the Lord’s endeavour to administer the word, which itself is the only purifier?
John in his epistle says “Every man that has the hope of God in him, purifieth himself.” The regeneration that comes in this new life we now live as the sons of God is one of refining, purifying, and is a daily task. The longer we live the more we realise how personal this process is—the less we try to purify others, except by constant example in a Christian life. We realise from experience that we all must go through the same character forming trials, and in viewing our fellow pilgrims we see them all in various stages of growth—or if you will, various stages of purifying. This must be apparent in all of us if the Spirit of God is at work—a gradual improvement. This brings with it purity, long suffering, gentleness, humility, meekness, without which we will not see God. The exhortation of Paul to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh” takes on an active meaning.
The mill of affliction that we creatures must pass through to perfect our holiness is very necessary, and we must mix with the world at times, yet the purpose of God is found in the words of the Lord Jesus. “Father, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from evil.” So then, we stand by the grace of God, called to be His sons and daughters. We look down on these our garments, spotted, yes, stained from sin. Then we look up to our Merciful Father with the spirit of the publican “Father, be merciful to me a sinner.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One