When I think of the phrase “pure in heart,” I think of being or standing blameless before God. And I can do that because, to the best of my knowledge, my thoughts, desires, and motives are all pure and blameless before Him. But this doesn’t happen because of what I personally think is right or pure but because of what I’ve learned through His Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit to help me apply it to my life.
When I was a new Christian believer, I had a lot of wrong ideas of what God would think of as blameless. I had been exposed to a lot of very wrong thinking and teaching, and even though my intentions would have basically been pure in heart, my actions, thoughts, or deeds might not have reflected that simply because I didn’t have enough Bible knowledge yet to carry it through properly.
So the absolute hands-down best advice I can give to a new Christian believer is to read and study your Bible every chance you get (double exclamation point!!) 😊
Allow the words of God to dwell in you richly; see Colossians 3:16. It’s the best investment you can make because the Holy Spirit will bring the exact verses you need to mind at the exact moment you need them – to help you become more like Christ which is to be pure in heart.
Stay away from (RUN FROM!!) all things that make you sin. For example, if watching a particular TV show makes you lust or sin in any way, don’t watch it anymore. I’ve had to stop watching a few REALLY GREAT TV series because they caused me to think thoughts I knew if I continued in, it would lead to sin. Run away from anything that would entangle you!
Make a big deal out of remaining pure. Don’t feel the need to understand things of which you don’t need to understand. It doesn’t mean burying your head in the sand, but it does mean, you don’t need to know or understand everything. A good example of this for me is drugs and alcohol. I have no idea what many of the drugs are even called. Same with alcohol. I’m completely oblivious to this kind of stuff. I don’t drink. I don’t do drugs. There’s no reason for me to know what all the names are. I want to keep my mind and heart completely pure and innocent.
If you think about Jesus’s life on earth, He didn’t desire anything other than to please God. As painful and difficult as that road was going to be (and was), He didn’t waiver one bit. He was crystal clear on His purpose and remained steadfast and pure in His devotion to it. Remembering things like this can help remind us what it means to be pure in heart.
Always do your best and remember that God is there to help keep you pure. He cares far more about your heart than you realize and remaining pure is a big deal to Him!
