By Very Rev. Nathaniel Garang Aduotdiit
“Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin?”
Living in our World today with all sorts of things popping and cropping randomly in our space, our environments; languages we hear, papers or pictures we consciously or unconsciously get ourselves seeing, the internet, etc.
. It certainly takes a bit of effort to maintain a pure heart. It’s one thing to be born again, being declared the Righteousness of God in Christ, and yet it’s totally a very different thing to carry your cross daily and follow Jesus!! It’s just like, being declared one flesh on the on the wedding day; however, becoming one in mind, in likes and dislikes, in hopes and dreams, in ministry, etc, requires time and deliberate decisions and some degree of surrender and compromise!
Similarly, it’s not obvious to assume all born-agains are pure children of God. Because becoming pure is a journey of walking the path of obedience to the guidance and the Leadership of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. I know plenty of people who claim to be born-again Christians, However, you’ll be very surprised with the level of corruption and wickedness some get trapped in.
Apostle Peter’s words describe. best their condition. (2 Peter 2:20-21) ESV “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy.
commandment delivered to them.” Why is that? It’s because purity of heart requires a daily decision and commitment to obey the Word of God and submit oneself to the authority and Leadership of the Holy Spirit. Early on, David the Psalmist asks the same question, He says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.” (Psalm 119:9) ESV.
It’s very possible to live a dual life. Prophet Jeremiah also describes them! (Jeremiah 9:8) says, “Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart, he layeth his wait.”
So to purify our hearts is to be pure in what is spoken out of our mouths; to say what we mean and mean what we say and speak only God’s righteousness (not man’s idea or wrong or right).
The Greek word for the Word “pure” in Matthew 5:8 is katharos. It means to be “clean, blameless, unstained from guilt.” Interestingly, the word can refer specifically to that which is purified by Fire🔥 or by pruning . John the Baptist told people that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11). Malachi speaks of the Messiah as being like a “refiner’s fire” (Malachi 3:2).
Jesus refers to believers as being the branches and to Himself as being the vine (John 15:1-17). For a vine to produce fruit, it must be pruned. Those who are truly “pure,” then, are those who have been declared innocent because of the work of Jesus and who are being sanctified by His refining fire and His pruning. Processes like tests, trials, sacrifice, discipline, etc, help to cultivate our hearts by the grace of God to be pure!
Conclusively, Being pure in heart involves having a singleness of heart toward God,
having no hypocrisy, no guile, no hidden motives, etc. The pure heart is marked by transparency and an uncompromising desire to please God in all things It is more than an external purity of behavior; it is an internal purity of soul.
God bless you all.
Very Rev. Nathaniel Garang Aduotdiit, opinion writer on biblical reality