Character (2)
“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” Matthew 5:8 NASB
Shall see – Now that we have some appreciation for the meaning behind these words (see yesterday’s edition of Today’s Word), let’s ask another question. If purity of heart is a gift, why do we struggle so much to see God at work? If God’s gives us this kind of sight, why don’t we see Him everywhere? The answer is all about character. Despite God’s gift, character is formed from the tapestry of hundreds of tiny decision threads. Every thread carries us toward honoring the gift or ignoring it. We don’t suddenly discover God is no longer visible to us. God fades from our view over time; over the time it takes to make one tiny decision after another, until one day we are blind to Him. God’s gift is not like something you keep in a safe deposit box. It’s like something sitting on the workbench. It is of no use while it sits there. Its purpose is to be put to work. God gives but we must use.
What, then, is purity of heart? Perhaps the reason why the Greek text uses katharos rather than hagnos is to emphasize that we must do something. On the surface, it looks like we must perform the rituals required for religious purity. But we have seen that this cannot be the case. Religious ritual does not make a heart pure. Religious ritual is supposed to be an expression of an already-existing inner state of spiritual passion. Nevertheless, katharos requires some kind of action. It isn’t just a certificate of purity handed to you. A pure heart comes from the combination of godly gift and human effort. How do we know this? Because we are called to be like Him, and the only way that can happen is if we act like Him.
This, of course, leads us to the character of God, and the best description of the character of God is given to us in Exodus 34:6-7, from the mouth of the Lord Himself. What is God’s character like? Well, it’s first and foremost described by compassion. The Hebrew word raḥûm is a derivative of the verb rāḥam which means “to love deeply, have mercy, be compassionate.” But if the consonants are vocalized differently, the word becomes raḥam, a word that means “womb.” Under this linguistic umbrella we discover that the imagery God uses for the first element of His character includes the entirely human relational description of a woman bearing an unborn child. A Hebrew speaker would recognize this connection, and as a result, recognize the depth of God’s compassion symbolized in pregnancy. There is no greater human bond. Consequently God uses this paradigm of human compassion to speak about His compassion.
Here’s the lesson. If we are going to be pure in heart, we will need to demonstrate the same kind of compassion that God exhibits. But rather than throw up our hands and say, “I can never be as compassionate as God. After all, I’m only human,” God gives us a word that provides a very human example. And so we have it. To be pure in heart, and as a result, see the presence of God with enlightened eyes, involves acting compassionately whenever there is opportunity to do so.
We can now go through all the rest of the list of attributes in Exodus 34:6-7 to discover what else purity of heart looks like. In each case, we find a human analogy to a godly character element. The message is clear: we can do this!
Katharos—to act in some way involving religious purity—is the correct word because it requires us to perform the same actions that distinguish God’s purity. The text isn’t about sacraments. It’s about being like God in the ordinary world of men and women.
So, let’s get to it—and we will see God everywhere.
Topical Index: katharos, purity, rāḥam, compassion, Exodus 34:6-7, Matthew 5:8
So let’s get to it , and we will see God everywhere, what a powerful statement he is all around and in us he is our breath of life,. Thanks Skip!
The occult is about substituting something in front of the truth that appears to be the truth. It “sits in the temple of God, showing itself as if it is God”. This is Pantheism in its very essence; the idea that everything IS God. Pantheism teaches that there is no other: that the ‘other’ is an illusion. All the earliest religions were pantheistic. This belief led to humans being afraid of (worshiping) reality instead of seeing reality as a substrate for love to work THROUGH. If love was creation itself; if the created had the power to connect itself with itself, then there could be no free choice; indeed it is doubtful that consciousness (the awareness of Self) could even be possible, for without the awareness of the Other, we could not be aware of the Self as a Self. Pantheism, I have suspected, lies at the bottom of the worship of self, for it gives the basis for the belief that we have the ability IN OURSELVES to love (connect) with all. (The currently popular New Age version of this teaches that “all will become One (loss of identity)”.) The voluntary unity of free will creatures, of course, is the opposite; we become MORE ourselves, not less, when we choose love.
Evil cannot invent something new; it can only counterfeit or subvert the truth; the good; the real. Thus, the occult can only copy, twist, invert, or cover over the truth. Truth never looks to the false for its identity: we will always find the false depending upon the truth for everything it consists of. If error ever said the truth: “I am error”, no one would want it. Thus, the most successful errors will always be those that are as much like the truth as possible: 99.99% pure Ivory soap, but with at least the shadow of a lie embedded somewhere in it.
Why did I go chasing this occultic rabbit? Because all false religion teaches compassion (basis for love connection); it just teaches it with a twist; either it teaches compassion as ‘tolerance’ (the current new fav substitute) or it teaches that we are the generators of compassion (pantheistic core of the belief that the human is a ‘source’ for divine goodness) or it teaches selective compassion of some sort, etc. etc. Only the Bible shows us not only what true compassion looks like (God’s compassion for us) but where it comes from (a “new heart” – His heart transplanted into us – literally His will enacted through our free choice to cooperate with the will of heaven). We CHOOSE compassion; we don’t generate it. We pray “Thy will be done” and “let it begin with me”‘ then His compassion can work freely in our hearts. My flesh, of course, wants nothing to do with sharing the trouble (like passion) of others; it is counter-‘survival’. Therefore, all versions of compassion in the flesh will have at least some component of self interest embedded deep within it. Who wants that kind of compassion?
All goodness is transcendent; all goodness comes THROUGH creation – unless evil breaks the line, of course. When I obey the gospel, I choose to reconnect that line. When I repent for hardness of (“stony”) heart, God’s compassion can then move upon my heart and hands. Try compassion without the cooperation of heaven – vs. allowing God’s love free rein in your life – and you will see for yourself the difference between a powerless, meaningless act that goes nowhere and does not last vs. an unleashing of transcendent power from beyond reality to transform that reality. You will, in fact, see a little piece of heaven on earth. We all know it when we see it. Counterfeit (flesh) compassion is about as far from the real stuff as darkness is from light.
Ah… but what about “complex” monotheism?
See (shema) how the Creator introduce Himself (Themselves) in Ex.34:6 – “And YHWH passed by in front of him and proclaimed: YHWH, YHWH, AL (or El)”
And Moses repeat in Deut.6:4 – “See Israel YHWH, ALHIM, YHWH is one.” [or in the Jewish bible: Sh’ma Yisra’eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad.]
YHWH and AL and YHWH ?
How can 3 be one ?
Or is it 2 ?
Why are worshippers missing the image being male AND female (Gen.1:26,27; Rom.1:19).
No wonder “the church” is infested with fornication and sexual perversions.
Only in the Spirit can HE / THEY be seen (metaphysical)!
This is a UNITY not a TRINITY.
I LOVE that!
Unity can only happen between Selves. “Oneness”, on the other hand, is about losing the Self; losing identity. A Person is a fully actualized Self. You lose the personhood of unity when you incorporate the concept of ‘oneness’, for in a One, there is only one choice.
I think that Unity and Oneness are opposites; the ‘one’ is counterfeiting the unity, and is about control, which is the negation of choice, if you think about it.
Unity can also only happen between equals; everything else is a hierarchy of some sort. All pagan trinities have hierarchy; thus, to ‘cooperate’ there has to be some sort of subsumation (loss of identity, or, ability to choose), for, in a hierarchy, there can only be ‘One’ choice – everybody else has to agree, which is NOT choice.
In pagan religions, we also find hierarchy; some have the authority to choose for others; thus, loss of essential identity, which is, again, the ability to choose.
Modern humanism gives lip service to the truth that “all men are created equal” (all choices have equal power), but the devil is in the details (application).
Very good point. I stand corrected: Not a “unity” but a “one-ity”
We, the worshipers, seek the face (/character) of the ONE-ITY.
I agree Laurita, you put it beautifully. It is the same in a perfect marriage, the two shall become one, sublimated in each other’s skin so to speak and the two become greater thereof than in and of themselves separately.
That reads a bit clunky but it covers the point I think.
The white stone in Revelation is referring to a pure heart.
Are you offended?
Are you wounded?
Are you in agreement with your adversary?
Are you partnering with the accuser?
Are you at peace and filled with Joy?
A pure heart is motivated to “see” God, Jesus said “if you have seen me you have seen the Father”
We serve the Living God, Jesus resurrected to show you He is alive and said “come” come and see your King! He is your reward for the victorious journey into a pure heart!!
As you journey up the Mountain, He will purify your heart. Just keep going. He is worth it all.
Please write back and tell me you have seen Him-
Yes, we follow Yeshua.
And, yes, He followed the Father.
“the Son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees
the Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”
It’s so true. We will see God everywhere when we live like God everywhere.
So God is a reflection of you?
Religious ritual is supposed to be an expression of an already existing inner state of passion. Sounds like new age or so called enlightened ones talk or Ari’s Kabbalah wasn’t that where Hans Jonah developed his beliefs to be able to cope with the Holocaust.
Meant to say Jonas, better say his name right????
I could just envision tomorrows word of the day:)…… Character (3): Direct proportionality between Character and Identity.