We have now entered the season of Lent. For many Christians, Lent is taken as a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter where God miraculously redeemed mankind by resurrecting His Son from the dead. It is also a time to consider what Jesus said and did; and how we should be living in light of His Words. ✞ ♥
During this season, here on the Seeking Him devotional blog, we have chosen to focus our devotionals on Jesus’ instructions and admonition communicated in Matthew chapter 5—the Beatitudes. Jesus said, “Blessed are…” and He went on to give instruction as to how to be “blessed.” To be ‘blessed’ is to ‘be happy, or to be envied.’ Truly for the Christian, we ARE blessed—oh, how very blessed we are! Those who observe our lives should clearly be able to tell that we ARE blessed—and that we KNOW it! ✞ ♥
Please consider Jesus’ instructions along with us. We pray that our words will encourage you and spur you on to be prepare your hearts for the joyous celebration of His Resurrection! ✞ ♥
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Matthew 5:8
Purity is “the condition or quality of being free from anything that debases, contaminates, pollutes,” etc. That is why childhood is called the “age of innocence.” Nothing has come into children’s hearts to make them impure. They do not know the evils of this world unless it has touched them in some way. They have no worries unless they just happen to have seen or felt evil at a young age. I see this looking at my two young children every day—especially yesterday.
I got a free day off from work yesterday due to a threat on campus. I was two minutes away from daycare when I got the call that the university was closed. I turned around, and my daughter and I went home. I spent the morning with her (even thought I slept for about 30 minutes of it). (Hey…I was not about to let an opportunity for a nap slip by when I was sleepy.) Later that afternoon, she took a nap while I was cleaning her room and her brother’s room. I checked in on her, and I watched her sleep. I wondered where the time had gone and where my ‘age of innocence’ had gone. Due to the innocence she has, she is not contaminated yet, except by sin. She is too young to realize what the true meaning of Easter is…though she can now tell you that Jesus died on the Cross.
When we do not know God, we are impure. When we reach the age where we can understand who Jesus is and what He did for us, we have become contaminated by the world. We are being taught its ideals through peers and the outside world. Yet, we reach a level of purity again when we decide to accept God’s gift of eternal life. When we accept Jesus, we feel His Presence in our hearts, and we see His daily works in our lives. We become blessed to be pure through the Blood of Jesus Christ again, and we can see Him every day by looking for His signs through nature and the blessings that He gives us when we need them.
God loves us. We are His creation. We are His children, and He is our Father. We see God every day when we observe what He does and spend time with Him. Our hearts and spirit become less polluted by the world and cleaner by the spirit working inside of our hearts. We become more like children of God and less like children of the world.
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Dear God, thank You for cleaning our hearts and making us pure in the spirit. The pollution of this world is great, but Your love for us is greater and infinite. You are our Father, and we are Your children. You clean our spirits and make us whole. In Jesus name, Amen.
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Thank you, Laura, for the reminder that to be pure in heart, we need to spend more time with God, and observing what He is doing in and around us. Then we “become less polluted by the world and cleaner by the Spirit working inside of our hearts.” Praise God!