Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8, discover 3 Ways to have a clean heart in this article.
How many want to see God? Imagine being face to face with our Lord! That would be great although, at least for the moment, we can’t do it. The Bible says that no one can see God and live, but we can see God work in our life. The Word of God also teaches us that He is omnipresent, but that does not mean that He manifests Himself everywhere. This means that God is in the church where you congregate, in the supermarket, in a stadium, and even in a bar or a nightclub (Yes, even there!); but He does not manifest Himself in every place, but where He is honored, loved and obeyed. Do you want to see God in your life?
Jesus calls blessed – the one who lives true and complete happiness – those who have a clean heart because what gives you that fullness is to see God manifested in your life and, how beautiful it is to know that this is something that He wants to do! ! On the other hand, I believe that there is nothing worse than knowing about God and knowing about Him, but not seeing it in your life.
Why do you need a Clean Heart?
Today society is very concerned about the pure; we buy bottled water when we used to drink tap water a few years ago. We care about clean air, healthy food, and natural things, but God doesn’t emphasize that. Of course, it is important to take care of your health, but do not worry so much about what goes into your body, but about what comes out of your interior. What God wants from you and me is a purity of heart: where no one but you and God can see.
I cannot see God manifest in my life with a dirty heart, I need a clean heart. What does it mean to have a pure heart? A pure heart has no mixture of good and bad desires, but one that seeks and longs to stay clean, one that does what it says. We all need to be cleansed! One of the most revealing questions we can ask ourselves is:
“What is the real motivation for which I follow the Lord?”
If we realize that our motive is not only love for Him, our hearts break and that makes us humble ourselves before Him to say: “Lord, I want to love you! I don’t want to have a deceitful or dirty heart! I don’t want to hide things that are not being treated!” Many might go to church and even serve in some ministry but behave as if nothing is happening and not be honest about things that are there but shouldn’t.
Peter himself was confronted by Jesus and the way he chose to do it was by asking him: “Do you love me?… Do you love me?… Do you love me?” (John 21:15-17). We have to ask God, “Lord, am I loving you?” We need to analyze our heart to be able to tell it: “I want to show you that I love you by acknowledging my heart and yearning to be clean. Holy Spirit, help me to see things clearly and break my pride in not wanting to accept what is wrong in my life. Help me to see myself without justifying myself and to call things for what they are before you.”
God cares not only about what we do but also why we do it. “Be careful! Do not do your good deeds in public so that others will admire you because you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:1). Jesus is telling us: “Be careful of your motivation, be careful not to do things to be seen by others”. Our motivation should be solely to please Him!
Is it possible to do good things with wrong motivations? The short answer is yes”. But Jesus tells us that the true blessing comes when we live the same inside and out.
3 Tips to Have a Clean Heart
1. Do not forget that God can see everything.
It seems that many times we forget, but He can see your heart and mine as it is. There is a phrase that Jesus repeats three times in chapter 6 of Matthew: “Your Father who sees in secret” (6:4, 6, 18).
One of the things that will help you is to recognize that God can see everything in the depths of your heart: the good, the bad, and the worst.
You cannot hide anything from God. You can’t pretend you’re good and okay when you’re not.
You cannot pretend that there are no wrong desires and thoughts. There are no secrets for Him! God knows everything you are doing, what you have done, and even what you will do in the future. If we’re not honest and cut off those things in our lives, God will make sure to bring them out to be dealt with. No, God doesn’t want to take out your raisin the sun but wants to give you opportunities to stop. The Word says that the Lord “will also provide a way out with temptation” (1 Corinthians 10:13). You must put a stop to these things and repent so that they are treated in time and that they do not affect you anymore. We cannot pretend that we are okay if we are still burdened with things that are not right before God.
“There is nothing in all creation that is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes; and it is to Him that we render accounts.” Hebrews 4:13 NLT
We all have to give an account to God. Some young people say: “I live alone: I already left my parents’ house, I’m grown up now, I make my own decisions and I’m not accountable to anyone!”. However, this is not true. We will all be accountable to God. I am not talking exclusively about the day of judgment, but daily. Every day we must give an account to God.
“I could never escape from your Spirit! I could never run from your presence!” Psalms 139:7
If God can see everything and can see my heart better than I can myself, then I have to stop pretending that I “can do everything”, that I am a super person or that I am a super saint without the help of God. The truth is liberating to know that God knows absolutely everything about you and, despite everything, he loves you. Doesn’t that excite you? Just as you are, He loves you. Sometimes one fights against this reality and we think that we have to do things to please God, but He tells you: “This is how I love you and I am the one who is going to transform you.” He not only loves you, but he showed it by giving Christ to die for you and me so that we would have a chance to be forgiven and cleansed. Who can make his heart pure? No one! Only the Holy Spirit purifies the willing heart.
2. Remember that God also knows your motivations.
King David’s command to Solomon, his son, when he handed over the kingdom to him was to walk before God “truly, with all your heart and with all your soul” (1 Kings 2:4). David knew that the Lord searches the heart and knows the intentions.
We must make an honest assessment before God to reveal our true motivation. Just as David said: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know the thoughts that trouble me. Point out to me anything in me that offends you and guide me on the path of eternal life” (Psalm 139:23-24 NLT). In this passage, we are not told that God did not know David’s heart, but that he was showing an attitude of humility, a right attitude.
We will never have a perfect heart while we are on earth, but we can have a correct attitude to be washed and transformed by the Holy Spirit. God wants us to have the desire to have a heart after His.
“Don’t excuse yourself by saying, ‘Oh, we didn’t know that. For God knows every heart and he sees you. The one who takes care of your soul knows well that you knew. He will pay each one according to what their actions deserve.” Proverbs 24:12
We have to bring our motivations before God and not justify ourselves. We must stop saying that “if it were not for this, for that or this or for that…”. Everyone is responsible for the things of their hearts and we must make the decision to be cleansed and transformed so as not to fall again.
God’s rewards are based on what we do and our motivations. Jesus told us that whoever does things to be seen already has his reward in having been seen, but whoever does things with the right motivation receives his reward from God.
Jesus gives three examples when he talks about motivations:
In the first example, he speaks of giving: “When you give to someone in need, do not do what the hypocrites do who blow the trumpet in the synagogues and in the streets to call attention to their acts of charity. I tell you the truth, you will receive no other reward than that” (Matthew 6:2). What Jesus says is that if you are going to give, do it from the heart and not to be seen.
The second example he gives is about prayer: “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray in public, on street corners and in synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, you will receive no other reward than that” (Matthew 6:5). If you worship and praise only in church meetings, there is a problem. Maybe you just do it in the ball to be seen. But if you pray, praise, and worship in private, then only God can see you.
The third example Jesus mentions is about fasting: “When you fast, don’t let it be obvious, because that’s what hypocrites do; for they try to have a miserable appearance and go about untidy so that people admire them for their fasts. I tell you the truth, you will receive no other reward than that” (Matthew 6:16). In other words: Don’t let anyone know that you are fasting.
Do all these things in secret for God. It is not that you hide, but that you do them with the motivation of pleasing the Lord and not to shield people. A pure heart seeks to please God and not others.
“For we speak as messengers approved by God, entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. Only he examines the intentions of our hearts. 1 Thessalonians 2:4
The question for you today is: “Why do you do what you do? Why do you congregate in a church? The truth is, many do it to see the girl or boy they like, to see their friends, because there is air conditioning or because they like music. We can come for many things, but the correct motivation is: to receive from Him. Why do you serve in a ministry? What is your motivation? In everything we do we decide to please someone; either to oneself, to God, or others.
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3. Order your priorities.
“Do not make for yourself any kind of idol or image of anything that is in heaven, on earth, or in the sea.” Exodus 20:3
God wants first place in my life: God is everything or he is nothing. Here are some quick test questions to see if God comes first in your life:
a) In what do you invest your time, your talents, and your money? “Do not store treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in the sky, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves cannot break in to steal. Where your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). What do you spend your resources and time on? Look at the week that just passed; I am not referring to the working hours, but to your free time on which you decide. What did you occupy it with?
Regarding money, we know that there are things to pay, but I am talking about money that you decide on; what do you do with it? Just as the money you tithe is not based on what you have left, but what you receive, the same is over time. Don’t wait for the internet to go away to read the Bible!
b) What are your concerns? In this chapter, Jesus talks about five concerns that are real and very common. The first is money, the second is food (v. 25), the third is the physical appearance (v. 27), the fourth is beauty (v. 28), and finally, Jesus talks about the future (v. . 3. 4). These are all things that we have to take care of and that are important. God does not ask us to stop attending to them, only that we do not worry about them.
c) What are your ambitions? It is good to have dreams and desires, but the Lord says that there is something that we should be more passionate about: Seeking the Kingdom of God. “Seek the kingdom of God above all else and lead a righteous life, and he will give you whatever you need” (Matthew 6:33). More than anything else in this world, we should aim to be an instrument to establish the Kingdom of God.
There is a phrase that I like: “Your social networks will talk about the abundance of the heart”. You can see what a person posts and know what they prioritize in their life.
These questions serve to see if your heart is well-focused. We all want rewards, blessings and to be blessed, but all this is only for those with a pure heart. The most beautiful thing of all is that if we have a clean heart, we will see God. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a faithful spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). Do you know when David wrote this? He did it after having committed adultery with Bathsheba and having murdered his friend, her husband. After this, David broke down, repented, and was forgiven.
This is a message to us that no one is far from God’s love. What is your motivation to have a clean heart? To see God in your life.