Thursday, April 25, 2013

Cost of Discipleship Pt 45 Pure heart


Chapter 6 - The Beatitudes

Mat_5:8  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Bonhoeffer- 'Who is pure in heart? Only those who have surrendered their hearts completely to Jesus that he may reign in them alone. Only those whose hearts are undefiled by their own evil-- and by their own virtues too. The pure in heart have a child-like simplicity like Adam before the fall, innocent alike of good and evil: their hearts are not ruled by their conscience, but by the will of Jesus. If men renounce their own good, if in penitence they have renounced their own hearts, if they rely solely upon Jesus, then his word purifies their hearts. Purity of heart is here contrasted with all outward purity, even the purity of high intentions. The pure heart is pure alike of good and evil, it belongs exclusively to Christ and looks only to him who goes on before. Only they will see God, who in this life have looked solely unto Jesus Christ, the Son of God. For then their hearts are free from all defiling phantasies and are not distracted by conflicting desires and intentions. They are wholly absorbed by the contemplation of God. They shall see God, whose hearts have become a reflection of the image of Jesus Christ.'

My thoughts-

We can't see our hearts, people can't see our hearts, our inner workings, are innermost thoughts and beliefs.  All too often you'll hear tell how shocked people are, when people they know commit crimes. They think they know the people but they really don't. We don't know the heart. But we do know that God can create a clean heart in us.

Psa_51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

If we want a pure heart there is only ONE way to have a pure heart- by God creating it in us.

We cannot create our own pure heart, it's impossible.

Bonhoeffer saying this- 'Only those whose hearts are undefiled by their own evil and by their own virtues too.' 

Undefiled by our own evil.  We understand that. We know that we are not to be evil. But is it true, can our hearts be defiled by our own virtues, too? Our hearts can be puffed up with vanity, we can be ruined by well doing when we turn it into something for ourselves and not of God.

Our hearts are tricky things aren't they?

We want to do good, but we do things that aren't good. We want self to be satisfied, not realizing that were we given everything material in the world we still would not be satisfied.  Whether rich or poor we have to deal with our ever tricky heart.

Our hearts need cleansing to be pure, and only our Savior can cleanse our hearts.

David said the following-

1Ch 29:17  I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee.
1Ch 29:18  O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee:
1Ch 29:19  And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace, for the which I have made provision.

Prepare their heart unto thee.
Give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart.

God prepares, God gives, God creates when it comes to our hearts!

Mat_5:8  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Bonhoeffer says- 'They shall see God, whose hearts have become a reflection of the image of Jesus Christ'

This is because it is Christ who has cleansed our hearts, creating new hearts within us.


This new heart belongs to Christ! He knows this new heart!

We need to choose Christ always in all things, allowing HIM to purify our hearts. 

Heb 10:22  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

1Pe 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently

Christ offers.
We choose.
Every single day!
Every single moment!

Christ will purify our hearts, we must surrender our hearts to Him to purify.

We cannot keep a hold of our heart devising our own ways, and expect Christ to purify our ways. We must take hold of Christ's ways.

Please LORD, make our hearts PURE in YOU!

All by YOUR LOVE! Your amazing purifying love.

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