'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.' (Mt 5:8)

This leapt out at me and has been in my mind since yesterday. I wonder what purity of heart might mean?

Purity of heart, as Jon Courson very wisely pointed out, is a lot different from cleanness of heart. By right all who've put their trust in the Lord and recognise Jesus as Saviour have clean hearts - 'You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you' (John 15:3). But purity of heart refers to one that is undividedly in pursuit of God. It refers to a sense of purpose-drivenness towards that one goal above the rest; a sense of chosen oblivion and ignorance towards all other possible distractions. I believe it doesn't mean an abandonment of responsibility or an ignoring of what's important around (relationships, family, work), but a chosen prioritisation of Christ and a focus on desiring Him above other less important things.

I used to wonder why only people who fasted and prayed 10 out of 24 hours a day, or weird puritans who abstained from secular music and stacked piles of religious CDs up to the high heavens, or those who must go on their knees for a good time of pious devotion before they went out each day, were the ones who at the end of the day were truly able to listen from God. I've come to realise that it's not so much in these things that they were doing, because after all these can also develop into another form of religious idolatry, that God spoke more to them. But it was with the heart they were doing these things that opened their ears to listen better, and theirs was a good, pure heart of seeking and desiring God with simple yet aggressive purposefulness.

It is this heart that I want for myself - because when it's in the right place, all other things naturally just fall in place. 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God,' He says, 'and all these things will be added unto you'. Give me a desirous, passionate heart for You my Lord.
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