October was the last time we looked at our study of the beatitudes. We took a break to discuss Thanksgiving and Christmas and I hope you and your family were deeply moved by the Holy Spirit as we gave thanks and celebrated the birth of Jesus our Savior. Now we find ourselves in 2015, looking ahead to the Lords work and will for our lives in this New Year. I want to encourage you to allow the Lord to work through your life and in doing so I know He will use the BRCN and hopefully this article as an instrument of guidance and direction for His work. For January we are going to look at Matthew 5:8 where we read “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” When reading this our hearts are directed to purity! The Lord is telling us purity is a characteristic of righteousness. If you remember the introduction of this series you will remember we discussed how the beatitudes were directions regarding a righteous people. We cannot obtain righteousness on our own, we cannot earn it, we cannot buy it, there is nothing you and I can do to obtain righteousness. With that said we must also realize righteousness like the other attributes God has for His children can be imparted or passed along. Righteousness can be passed to us through Jesus Christ. How does this happen, well I am glad you ask! By accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and savior several things are imparted to us, for this article I want discuss two. First; Jesus imparts to the born again eternal life. Through the gift of salvation Jesus comes to live in our heart and because of that He brings with Him the second item, the one I want to discuss. Righteousness, we cannot obtain it but the Lord Jesus Christ can and will bring it with Him to us. His righteousness will change our life. In verse 8 we see it will bring purity. Christ tells us specifically that in order to see God we must be pure in heart. Purity is not measured by the practice of people, but by the character of God lived out through the lives of people.
As God determines righteousness, He measures it by His own unchangeable, unalterable, absolute holiness and this is found only in those who have truly accepted Jesus as Lord and savior. When the Lord tells us we will know a tree by the fruit it bears, we should immediately realize He is talking about our life. That fruit will be righteousness and in this case purity. The one who has received righteousness from God is constituted as pure in heart and acceptable to Him; and Christ promised that those who have a purity that conforms to Gods holiness will see God.
Sadly many today follow in the footsteps of the Pharisees who measured purity by the standard of conforming to man-made traditions. This was and still is a human standard, not in any way divine. The Lord in contrast demanded conformity to the holiness of God as a basis of entering into Gods kingdom. I am not interested in the denomination you worship under because all of them have to some degree or another certain man-made traditions. I want you to realize the name on the sign has nothing to do with the condition of your heart. Your righteousness is based on your personal relationship with Jesus. Your purity is based on that relationship as well. A pure heart will always seek the satisfaction of the Lord, not of man. So, as we begin a new year I would recommend we take a very long, deep and sincere look at where we stand with God. Many if not most reading this paper and article will claim a relationship with Jesus Christ and I sincerely hope you have that relationship. Let’s take a moment in January 2015 to look at our hearts, our purity and make sure it reflects and is directed by the one who provided it for us. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let’s make sure the desires of our heart come from His heart, let’s make sure we have true purity as only the Lord can provide and give it. Let’s begin 2015 with a pure heart and seek true obedience to the Lord in order to maintain it throughout the year. If you don’t know Jesus as Lord and Savior and you want to know more about being born again please contact me using the information provided. Until next month may God Bless you is my prayer.
Top
