do you see God

today we study Matthew 5:8

⁸"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Now I have trouble with this verse because I do not know what pure in heart means. Well the word pure comes from the Greek word "katharos"  which means according to blueletterbible.com lexicon

clean, pure

a) physically

1) purified by fire

2) in a similitude, like a vine cleansed by pruning and so fitted to bear fruit

b) in a levitical sense

1) clean, the use of which is not forbidden, imparts no uncleanness

c) ethically

1) free from corrupt desire, from sin and guilt

2) free from every admixture of what is false, sincere genuine

3) blameless, innocent

4) unstained with the guilt of anything

We are purified by the Holy Spirit by fire like John said in Luke 3 right before baptizing Jesus and this purifying helps us to produce fruit in keeping with repentance

Notice that pure also means not mixed which flies in the face of our wanting to create a compartment for God in our heart. After all the great commandment says love the lord your God part of your heart right? NO it says in Matt 22:37

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Note that this purity is not mine but Jesus Christ's purity imparted onto me just like Joshua the high priest in Zech. 3. After I admit in my flesh I have impure thoughts if you can say you haven't but if you do you deceive yourself and the truth is not in you as john said in his epistle. But i am in Jesus Christ so i know when God looks at me he sees Christ's purity and righteousness, not my sin, and thank God for that. If you have not done so I encourage you to ask God to show you grace on the basis of  his son Jesus Christ who died on the cross and impart his purity and righteousness on to you.