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Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast heart within me.”

Proverbs 4:23, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”

“Do it with all your heart!”  “I give my heart to you!”  “It is a heart matter.”  “He has a big heart!”  “You broke my heart!”  “I love (heart) you!”  I know there are many more expressions that use the heart and you can add to the list.  Reread the verses above.  They give both encouragement and advice about the importance keeping a pure heart.

There was an old saying, garbage in, garbage out, that refers to what we put into our heart eventually comes out.  If it is bad stuff, bad stuff comes out; if it is good stuff, good stuff comes out.  Looking back over the years, I have found this to be accurate.  Putting God’s Word into my heart for over 40 years has changed my language, the jokes I try to tell, and my actions and thought life continues to be better.  Yes, He continues to clean me up.     

Knowledge, wisdom, and understanding have been our emphasis the past few days.  Solomon writes that these are characteristics of the heart are where the fear of the Lord begins.  This begins when one accepts Jesus Christ as his Savior.  It continues as Jesus Christ becomes his Lord.  My sins, past, present, and future were forgiven the moment I asked Jesus Christ to be my Savior.  The heart must be pure; “out of it spring the issues of life”.   It becomes pure when the Lord Jesus Christ enters it and resides there.  Our responsibility is to keep our heart from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit that defile a man.  Such things include worldly lusts, impure thoughts and desires.  We diligently do our best; when we fail, we must confess our sinfulness.   Being human, I continue to sin, do things that do not please the Lord.  No matter how hard I try to “keep my heart” I fail and must ask for forgiveness (1 John 1:9).  And, God forgives!

The battle seems to be daily.  Diligently keeping the heart is just that.  I have known some who believe they can do anything they want because they can ask for forgiveness afterward.  No!  God’s forgiveness is not a license to sin.  It is His cleansing when we fail Him.

What a loving Father we serve because of What His Son did for us at Calvary.  “Create in me a clean heart, O God!”

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