With April bringing a brand new member to the Wilcox family, I just wanted to give a heads-up that I’m going to be taking a break for several weeks.  I’ve never been good at juggling, so two kids, a home, and several clients is really all I think I can handle right now.

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I’m not exactly sure when we’ll be back in business.  I’d love to say just a month, but I think we’ll wait and see how the next four weeks go for us!  Until then, may Christ

…dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being brooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.  (Ephesians 3:17-21)

Matthew 5:10-12, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for rightesouness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Sounds a bit like a paradox, doesn’t?

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Blessed–happy, joyful, well-favored–are those who are persecuted because of righteousness?  I have a hard time believing that one.

But, I do trust that if Jesus said it, it holds absolute truth, so let’s figure out what He meant, and what it looks like in our lives.

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Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

The call of our Beatitude today is that of peace.  Jesus says that blessed (happy, or well-favored) are those who are peacemakers, who strive to create peace with those around them.  They will be called the sons of God.

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

As we’re going through the Sermon on the Mount, it’s important not to forget that each verse points us back to the Lord.  Therefore, it’s incredibly important to think about exactly what each verse is telling us about Him, and what its application will look like in our lives.

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And so, as we come to this verse, we have a few questions we can ask:

1. What does it mean to be pure in heart?
2. What does it mean to see God, and why is it the pure in heart who see God?
3. What does this look like in our lives?

What Does it Mean to Be Pure in Heart?

Think about what it means for something to be pure:  it’s not tainted with anything, not mixed with anything.  It is free from contamination or blemish.  A pure-bred dog is one that was birthed from a mother and a father who were both 100% of the same breed–no other breed has been crossed with it.  A pure gold ring is one that is made up of 100% gold, no other metal is mixed into it.  Pure water is crystal clear and has no pollutants or contamination.

So, what does it mean for our hearts to be pure?  A pure heart is one that solely focused on one thing, namely, the Lord.  Later on in Matthew 22:37, Jesus commands, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  To have a pure heart is to be so consumed with the Lord and His glory that nothing else taints our focus.  This does not mean that our hearts don’t have room to love our husbands or our children, or that our hearts don’t have room for things we are passionate about, or that our hearts don’t have room to show compassion and mercy.  It means that none of those things becomes God for us.  Instead, He is our ultimate, supreme focus.

What Does it Mean to See God?

Here’s the beauty of being pure in heart.  As we cleanse our hearts from all other things–things that might keep them from being purely focused upon Him–we see Him.  The eyes of our hearts and minds get a greater, clearer vision of Him.  To see God is be brought into His presence, to be amazed at who He is and what He has done, and to be awestruck by His glory and His power.

To see God is to be brought near enough to Him to realize His magnitude, His magnificence, His worth and His weight.  Yet such a thing is only possible for those who even choose to love Him more than anything else in the world.

How Does This Apply to Real Life?

And now the question we must answer is:  what does all of this look like in real life, where we find ourselves surrounded by dirty dishes, and fussy babies, and bad attitudes, and burnt toast, and hearts that don’t always want to love the Lord more than anything else in the world.

This is just a shot in the dark, but I think being pure in heart is only possible as we come to flesh out the other aspects of the Beatitudes.  When I am poor in spirit, I realize my desperate need for the Lord.  I mourn my sin and my hopeless condition before Him.  I walk in meekness and submission to Him because I recognize His supremacy and His worth.  I hunger and thirst for righteousness, for His very essence, because I know it is the only thing that will sustain me.  And I grant mercy freely, because I recognize that He has freely granted it.  As I realize and come into these things, ever more deeply aware of who He is and what He has done in spite of all I was, I realize how desperately my heart needs to long for Him and Him alone.

I also recognize that such a reality is only possible by Him and through Him.  It’s not enough to just think that it’s a good thing to love and desire God more than anything else in the world.  It only happens by His grace at work in me.

And so, to be pure in heart is to be one who is completely reliant upon Him, resting in and trusting His grace and power to work in me that which I could never work out in myself.  And as He allows my heart to love and long for Him more and more, He also opens my eyes to see more of Him.

May we be among the pure in heart today.

Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

Throughout our journey through the Sermon on the Mount, we searched deeply for the meaning of several things:

• what does it mean to be poor in spirit?
• what does it mean to really mourn, and why are they comforted?
• what is meekness?
• what does it mean to hunger and thirst for righteousness?

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Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for rightesouness, for they shall be satisfied.”

When Selah was first born I was a complete baby novice. I mean, I hadn’t been around a pregnant woman since I was little, and I was never one of those girls who always had babies on the brain. Instead, I was the girl who ran in the other direction.

But it took about an hour after Selah was born to realize something very important about babies. When they are hungry, nothing will satisfy, comfort, or appease them. Nothing.

I also learned you really don’t want to be anywhere near a hungry baby unless you have the means to satisfy them.

Otherwise, you’ll seriously contemplate banging your head against a wall.

All bad memories aside, it makes a really good example of hungering and thirsting after righteousness.  You see, a hungry baby refuses to rest until he or she is satisfied with what they’re hungry for.  It’s the same kind of intense longing that I want to describe my hunger for righteousness.

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Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

What on Earth is Meekness?

I’m not sure meek is a word we use much anymore.  It’s definitely not one we truly understand.  I hear “meek” and immediately think weak, powerless, unable.  If I was to try to think of an animal that represented week, I might choose a kitten, or a koala bear.

That’s not even close.

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Instead, meekness has to do with being one who has completely surrendered yourself to the Lord.  Those who are meek realize that the Lord alone is good, holy, perfect, and faithful.  Not only do they recognize their absolute need for Him, they also recognize that there is nothing else in the world that they would want to rest in and trust.  And so, they choose to put their hope completely in Him .  They choose to surrender their hearts and minds to His will, because they recognize that He is worthy of following and that His way is best.

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Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

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I think this verse has the potential to mean a couple of different things.

To mourn is to express sorrow, sadness, grief, regret, emotional or mental anguish. In some ways, it is a solemn prediction of life here on earth: there are going to be moments when we mourn, when we know and experience deep sorrow, pain, and grief.

While it’s not exactly a pretty picture, it’s one in which we can hope, because the promise is that those who mourn will be comforted. When we experience grief, sorrow, or sadness, we can take it to the One who is strong enough to provide rest and comfort in the midst of our pain. He is the God who hears, who is mighty to save, and will care for us even as a mother hen cares for her chicks.

But, I think the meaning here is even deeper, even greater, and even more beautiful.

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