This episode centers on the sixth Beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” We look at what it truly means to have a pure heart and why it goes far deeper than outward behavior. God is not after polished appearances. He is after a heart that belongs fully to Him.

We talk about purity as an undivided devotion, a life not pulled in a dozen directions by competing loyalties. A pure heart is honest, surrendered, and aligned with God’s will. It is integrity in the quiet places, not performance in public.

As we walk through Scripture, we see the connection between purity and perception. When the heart is clear, we begin to recognize God’s presence more readily in our daily lives. There is also the promise ahead, the hope of seeing Him fully and face to face.

This conversation is an invitation to look inward. Consider the condition of your own heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to search you, to refine you, and to draw you into deeper holiness marked by sincerity and wholehearted love for God.

Takeaways:

1. The primary aim of the podcast is to provide spiritual encouragement and personal reflection.
2. Listeners are reminded that the content is not a substitute for professional advice or treatment.
3. The podcast emphasizes that purity of heart involves internal devotion rather than mere external appearances.
4. Jesus teaches that true purity stems from internal motivations and not just outward behaviors.

Links referenced in this episode:

1. [email protected]

The content shared on Living the Selah Life is for spiritual encouragement, personal reflection, and informational purposes only.

It is not intended to diagnose, treat or replace medical, psychological or professional advice of any kind.

Please consult a licensed healthcare provider or qualified professional for any physical, mental or emotional health concerns.

The views expressed are those of the host, Kimberly Lockanore, and are based on personal experience and Biblical insight insight, not clinical or professional training.

Welcome back to Living the Selah Life, a podcast that invites you to slow down to breathe and reconnect with the presence of God.

I'm your host, Kim, and this space is for anyone longing to become more familiar with his presence.

Each episode is an intentional pause, a moment to reflect, realign and remember that God meets us when we create space for Him.

So take a breath.

You are right on time.

Let's live the Selah life together.

Welcome welcome back, my friends, to Living the Selah Life.

In our last episode, we explored the fifth Beatitude, Blessed are the Merciful.

We discovered that those who have received mercy from God show mercy to others and that showing mercy demonstrates we're living in the cycle of mercy.

Today we're looking at the sixth Beatitude.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

This Beatitude addresses the internal reality of our hearts rather than external behavior.

We'll discover what it means to be pure in heart and why this purity is blessed and what it means to see God.

We will call this week's main teaching Pure in Heart Undivided devotion.

Matthew chapter 5, verses 8 says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

This beatitude flows from the previous five Again when you're poor in spirit, you recognize your need.

When you're mourned, you grieve over sin that contaminates your heart.

When you're meek, you surrender control.

When you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you want to be holy.

When you're merciful, you extend others what God has given you.

All this creates the soil where purity of heart grows.

Jesus promise Here is They shall see God and this is what the human heart was created for.

To see God, to know him, to be in his presence.

The pure in heart will experience this now through spiritual sight and forever when they see him face to face.

The religious leaders of Jesus Day focused on external purity, washing hands, avoiding certain foods, following rituals, things like that.

Jesus, on the other hand, focused on internal purity, the condition of the heart.

He's teaching that God cares about what you are on the inside, not just what you appear to be on the outside and you guys know I love some of the Greek translations for our English words because our English words lack so much depth when it comes to some words that are in the Bible.

The Greek word Jesus uses for pure is, Is katharos.

It's spelled K A T H A R O S. And this word means clean, free from dirt or contamination, unmixed with anything foreign.

It was used to describe metal refined to remove all impurities, grain that was winnowed to remove all the chaff or water that was clear and uncontaminated.

When Jesus talks about being pure in heart, he's describing hearts that are unmixed, devoted entirely to God, without competing loyalties.

Hearts that are clean, free from contamination, and hearts that are undivided, focused on God rather than split between God and other pursuits.

Purity of heart is not sinless perfection.

I want to get that out of your mind right now.

It's single minded devotion to God.

It's wanting him above everything else.

It's integrity, being the same person in private that you appear to be in public.

In scripture, the heart is not just the emotions or feelings.

The heart is the center of our being, our will, desires, motivations, thoughts, character.

It's who you really are when no one else is watching.

Proverbs, chapter 4, verses 23 says, Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it springs the issues of life.

Everything in your life flows from your heart.

Your actions, your words, your relationships, your priorities, all of these come from what's in your heart.

Jesus taught clearly in Matthew, chapter 15, verses 18 to 19.

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile a man.

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

The heart is where your true loyalties rest.

Live.

You can do all the right things externally, while your heart is far from God.

Purity of heart is about what's happening internally.

Your motives, your desires, your secret thoughts, your private actions.

Purity of heart means your devotion to God is unmixed with competing loyalties.

You don't serve God and money, you don't love God in the world.

Your heart is unified in its focus to God.

And remember that I said it's not perfect sinlessness, it is single hearted devotion.

The religious leaders of Jesus's day were obsessed with external purity.

They had elaborate rules about washing hands, avoiding certain foods, not touching dead bodies or unclean things.

And Jesus confronted this directly.

Matthew, chapter 23, verses 25 through 26 records him saying to The Pharisees.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.

For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self indulgence.

Blind Pharisees.

First cleanse the inside of the cup and the dish that the outside of them may be clean also.

The Pharisees looked pure on the outside.

They followed all the rules, but their hearts were full of pride, greed, hypocrisy and hatred.

Jesus taught that purity starts inside.

When your heart is pure, your external life will reflect that purity.

But you cannot make your heart pure by focusing on external behavior, which is why works based doctrines do not work.

Let's talk about the promise.

They shall see God, Jesus says, the pure in heart they shall see God.

This promise has both present and and future fulfillment.

In the present, the pure in heart see God spiritually.

Well, some see him other ways, but see him spiritually.

They recognize his presence, they perceive his work, they understand his ways.

Their undivided devotion to him gives them spiritual sight that others can lack.

Sometimes when your heart is contaminated with competing loyalties, your spiritual vision becomes clouded.

But when your heart is pure, focused on him, you see him everywhere.

You see him in Scripture, in creation, working in circumstances and moving in your heart.

In the future, the pure in heart will see God face to face.

First John, chapter three, verses two says, beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be.

But we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

The connection between purity and seeing God makes sense.

Sin separated us from God when our hearts were contaminated with sin.

We cannot touch a holy God.

But when our hearts are pure, cleansed by the blood of Jesus, we have access to his presence.

So how do hearts become pure?

We cannot make our own hearts pure.

Jeremiah wrote, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Who can know it?

God makes hearts pure.

Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

David recognized he needed God to create a clean heart in him.

God purifies hearts through Jesus blood.

Hebrews chapter 9:14 asks, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

God also purifies hearts through the Holy Spirit's word.

The Spirit convicts us of sin, shows us what contaminates our hearts and produces holiness in us.

He gives us power to resist temptation, creates desires for God that replace other desires and unifies our devotion.

Our part is cooperation.

We pursue God with single minded devotion.

Our part is to cooperate.

Proverbs chapter 4, verses 23 commands, Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

Keeping your heart means guarding it, protecting it, and being careful about what you allow in you.

Guard your heart by controlling what you look at.

What you feed your eyes feeds your heart.

Jesus said in Matthew 6, 22 and 23, the lamp of the body is the eye.

If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

You guard your heart by controlling what you listen to and what you think about what you look at.

Philippians chapter 4, verses 8 instructs, finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.

You guard your heart by controlling who influences you.

First Corinthians, chapter 15, verses 33 warns, do not be deceived.

Evil company corrupts good habits.

Choose friends who help you pursue purity rather than friends who pull you towards other things.

Jesus was perfectly pure in heart.

His devotion to the Father was complete and unmixed.

He never pursued his own agenda.

He lived in perfect integrity.

Because Jesus was pure in heart, he saw the Father perfectly.

When we follow Jesus, the Spirit produces this same purity in us.

We won't reach perfection in this life, but we're moving toward undivided devotion towards God.

We will move on to this week's Scripture Spotlight, and it comes From Psalms, chapter 24, verse verses 3 through 4. Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?

Or who may stand in his holy place?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart.

Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully.

This psalm addresses a fundamental question.

Who can approach God?

Who has access to his presence?

The answer reveals what God requires clean hands and a pure heart.

And again, pure heart is not perfect sinlessness.

The psalmist asks, who may ascend to the hill of the Lord?

The hill of the Lord refers to Mount Zion in Jerusalem, where the Temple stood.

Ascending the hill meant going to worship God, to be in his presence.

This question is about access to God.

Who can come into his presence?

Who can stand before him the answer Clean hands and a pure heart.

The psalm gives four qualifications.

First is clean hands, and in Scripture, hands represent your actions.

Clean hands means your behavior.

Your actions are pure.

What you do honors God.

But clean hands alone are not enough.

You can control external behavior while your heart remains contaminated.

And this is why the Psalms requires a pure heart.

While clean hand addresses external behavior, a pure heart addresses internal reality.

Your motives, desires, thoughts and loyalties must be pure.

A pure heart means your motives are right.

You serve God because you love him, you obey because you want to honor him, and your desires are aligned with his desires.

Your devotion is undivided.

The answer?

No idolatry.

The third qualification is he who has not lifted up his soul to an idol.

An idol is anything that takes God's place in your heart.

It's whatever you love more than God, trust more than God, or serve more than God.

Lifting up your soul to an idol means giving it your worship, trust and devotion.

When you do this, your heart becomes divided and you cannot maintain purity of heart while serving idols.

The fourth qualification is nor sworn deceitfully.

This addresses integrity and honesty.

You don't lie, deceive or break your word.

You don't try to.

And this is where that mercy comes in that we were talking about earlier.

This connects to purity of heart because purity includes integrity.

Being the same person privately that you appear to be in publicly.

No deceit, no false pretenses, and all these requirements work together.

Clean hands and a pure heart addresses external behavior and internal realities.

No idolatry and no deceit addresses undivided devotion and complete integrity.

Notice that clean hands come with pure heart.

External righteousness must be accompanied by internal purity.

You cannot approach God with right behavior if your heart is wrong, the psalm continues.

He shall receive blessing from the Lord and the righteousness from the God of His salvation.

This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek him who seek your face.

Those who meet these qualifications receive blessing from the Lord.

They have access to his presence, which is the biggest blessing of them all.

And they can seek his face and bind Him.

This is the same promise Jesus makes in the Beatitudes.

The pure in heart will see God.

They will have access to his presence.

They will know him intimately.

Old Testament believers could not fully meet these qualifications on their own.

Jesus met these requirements perfectly.

His hands were clean, his heart was pure, and he worshiped no idols.

He spoke no deceit.

Because Jesus met the requirements perfectly, he had complete access to the Father.

Now Jesus makes it possible for us to approach God because remember, we are coming Through Jesus.

His righteousness is credited to us.

His blood cleanses us.

His spirit purifies our hearts.

Evaluate yourself against these requirements.

When you fall short, simply confess to God and allow him to cleanse you.

He will do it if you ask him where you've devoted yourself to anything else.

You can repent and return your worship to him alone.

The promise stands.

Those who have clean hands and pure hearts can approach God.

They can stand in his presence and they can stand see Him.

Let's move on to this week's pause prompts.

And remember, Paul's prompts are never meant to condemn or judge.

It is just to take inventory of where we are so that we will know where we're going.

Let's go.

What competing loyalties exist in your heart, if any?

And what divides your devotion to God?

What do you love that competes with your love for Him?

Is there a place where your public life does not match your private life?

What are you allowing into your heart through your eyes, your ears and your mind?

What does the Holy Spirit want to cleanse from your heart?

How clearly do you see God in your life right now?

Is your spiritual vision clouded?

Remember, purity of heart is the Holy Spirit producing undivided devotion to God.

Remember, purity of heart is the Holy Spirit producing undivided devotion to God.

That is not something that we can do on our own.

And when we try, we utterly fail and he's unifying our focus on God alone.

Let's move on to our Selah moment and prayer.

This is our opportunity to ask God to search our hearts and purify us.

Begin by sitting comfortably and taking several slow, deep breaths.

Breaths.

Invite the Holy Spirit to search your heart and ask him to show you, if any, what contaminates your devotion to God.

And I want you guys to always remember it is never meant to be judgmental or judgy or call you out type of thing.

We only want to evaluate where we are because one authenticity before the Lord goes much further than many people give credit for it.

For me, it is the saving grace outside of Jesus, for my relationship and has been since I've been saved, being authentic before him that sometimes can feel.

They can feel condemning even though we're not trying to condemn, but it's only so that we can know where we stand stand.

Bring to mind the competing loyalties in your heart, maybe any mixed motives behind your actions or any idols that you've been serving.

No condemnation.

Don't minimize or excuse these.

Acknowledge them honestly.

Acknowledgement leads to freedom, confession, these things to God specifically Name them.

Ask God to create a clean heart in you.

Receive the cleansing Jesus blood provides.

Trust the spirit to purify your heart and unify your devotion.

Let us pray.

Father, in the name of Jesus, we come before you as people who need pure hearts.

We recognize that our hearts are naturally contaminated, divided in devotion and filled with competing loyalties.

We cannot make our own hearts pure.

We need you to create clean hearts in us.

Holy Spirit, search our hearts.

Show us what, if anything, contaminates our devotion to you.

Reveal any pride that makes us the center of our own universe.

Expose any greed that creates competing loyalties.

Uncover any lust that fills our minds with desires for what you forbid.

Bring to light anything we've been harboring.

We confess these specific things to you.

Now we know.

We admit the gap.

Forgive us for trying to serve you while also serving other masters.

Thank you for Jesus, Lord.

We thank you for Jesus whose heart was perfectly pure.

Thank you that his undivided devotion to you qualifies us to approach you.

Thank you that his blood cleanses us from all sin and makes it possible for our hearts to be pure.

Create clean hearts in us, O God.

Renew steadfast spirits within us.

Take away any contaminants, Remove any competing loyalties.

Cleanse the motives, purify the desires.

Unify our devotion.

So we want you above everything else.

Help us guard our hearts with diligence.

Help us control what we see, what we hear, what we think about and who influences us.

Give us wisdom to know what to remove from our lives and what to embrace.

Help us to cooperate with you.

Produce in us purity that gives access on access to your presence.

We want to always see you.

We want to know you more intimately.

We want to live in your presence.

Keep us pure, Lord.

Don't let us drift back into any divided devotion.

Thank you for the promise that the pure in heart will see God.

Thank you that as you pursue purify our hearts, we see you more clearly.

Thank you that one day we'll see you face to face with nothing between us.

Make us people whose hearts are clean.

Let us be those who ascend your heel and stand in your presence.

Because our hearts belong entirely to you.

It is in Jesus name that we pray who had a perfectly pure heart.

And it is so.

Let's lean into our Selah moment.

That's it for today, my friends.

Thank you for listening to living the Selah life.

If this moment stirred something in your spirit, share it with someone who needs to be reminded to pause.

You can connect with me on Instagram, a Facebook group, not a Facebook page or YouTube.

Living the Selah Life.

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That's living.

Living the Selah life at P R O T O N Me.

Until next time, remember that God is speaking.

He wants to guide you and direct you and give you his wisdom for your life.

Create space to listen.

Allow him to search your heart and purify your devotion.

May you go from this place resting, carrying the awareness that his presence is always near.

May you be rooted in the unshakable word of God, the Logos that ground you and the rhema that guides you.

May you keep rising into the life he designed for you, into purpose, into peace, into the fullness of his calling.

May your life become a living Selah.

An intentional pause that reveals his presence.

It is in Jesus name and it is so Selah.