Saturday, October 20, 2012
Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
PURE IN HEART
"What is meant by a 'pure heart' is this: one that is watching and pondering what God says and replacing its own ideas with the Word of God. This alone is pure before God, yes, purity itself, which purifies everything that it includes and touches. Therefore, though a common laborer, a shoemaker, or a blacksmith may be dirty and sooty or may smell because he is covered with dirt and pitch, still he may sit at home and think: 'My God has made me a man. He has given me my house, wife, and child and has commanded me to love them and to support them with my work.' Note that he is pondering the Word of God in his heart, and though he stinks outwardly, inwardly he is pure incense before God. But if he attains the highest purity so that he also takes whole of the Gospel and believes in Christ -- without this, that purity is impossible -- then he is pure completely, inwardly in his heart toward God and outwardly toward everything under him on earth.
"But what does it mean to 'see God?' Here again the monks have their own dreams. To them it means sitting in a cell and elevating your thoughts heavenward, leading a 'contemplative life,' as they call it in the many books they have written about it. ... But this is what it is: if you have a true faith that Christ is your Savior, then you see immediately that you have a gracious God. ... That is exactly what it means 'to see God,' not with physical eyes, with which no one can see Him in this life, but with faith, which sees His fatherly friendly heart, where there is no anger or displeasure."
-- Martin Luther
