A Pure Heart

 

 

Our refrigerator operates pretty well and is nice looking in appearance. It has one flaw, however—cold water is accessible only from the inside. Both doors have to be opened in order to reach the plastic dispenser. This lets the cold air escape, while chilling the person who is trying to get a drink!

  In our county, drinking water comes from Lake Huron and the Detroit River. Not being completely sure about its quality even when treated, we prefer filtered water over that from the tap. Rather than buying a new refrigerator that has a dispenser on the outside of the appliance, Al and I decided to have a filtering unit installed under the sink.

As a little girl, my mom played around the creek near her home. One day she was thirsty and got a drink from a large can that was on the back porch. Afterwards she remembered that she had collected some tiny tadpoles in that can! We kids grew on tap water and sometimes drank straight out of the garden hose when it was hot outside, without any ill effects.

In our early years of backpacking, it was safe to drink water from the high mountain streams and lakes. Later when the trails were more heavily traveled and there were more people in the high country, we began taking iodine tablets with us to purify the water. The iodine gave it an unusual taste and a dark color though.  Sometimes we used the tablets and boiled the water too! Eventually, we bought a light-weight water filter for backpacking. That was the best method of purification.

 On one memorable hike along the California coast only two sources of water were available: the ocean, and a small rivulet dripping down from the face of a cliff behind us. For some reason, we hadn’t packed the iodine tablets or the filter. Al ended up squeezing the water from the rivulet through one of his socks. Not a great way to impress a young bride! But, after boiling the liquid in a pot over the cookstove, it was drinkable.

Looking back on that experience, I don’t remember how the water tasted, but we never came down with any strange intestinal illness! Yes, clean water is important, especially in areas of the world lacking accessibility to it.

Then there is the desirability of a pure heart, a blessing according to Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8 NIV) Was Jesus speaking to people who were sinless?  Whose hearts were blameless? Whose thoughts and actions were always good?

No, they were people just like us—people who needed forgiveness for all of the times they had fallen short of God’s holy standards; people who carried burdens of guilt and shame, who were in need of transformed hearts.

 The crowds who came to hear Jesus were longing for something more in life and were seeking God.  Upon hearing those words, they must have wondered how their hearts could be purified so that they could someday see God who is Holy, and be with Him forever. Jesus called them to believe in Him, to confess and repent of their sins…the first steps on the journey of transformation.  

This is where the journey starts for each of us, with faith in Jesus, confession and repentance, then following Him day by day. As we begin to discover how much God loves us and become aware of His presence with us, we learn to trust Him. We yearn to have fellowship with Him, to know Him better. When we fall short, we must go to Him for help, get back up and keep walking.

The Apostle John assured all who follow Christ that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1John 1:9) The purification of our hearts is a lifelong process, done through the work of the Holy Spirit within us.

And the motivation for pressing on to the end? To see God! To dwell in Heaven with the Father, Son and Spirit for eternity! That is Jesus’ promise, and our blessing!

“Purify my heart
Touch me with Your cleansing fire
Take me to the cross
Your holiness is my desire
Breathe Your life in me
Kindle the love
That flows from Your throne
Oh purify my heart,
Purify my heart.”

 (“Purify My Heart,” Jeff Nelson 1992)