Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
—Matthew 5:8
Jesus deals with our conception of purity of heart later in this chapter, specifically citing the polluting influence of anger and lust, (vv. 22, 28).
But expositors define the pure in heart in this verse as those who are single-minded; those whose words and actions have unmixed motives.
Mixed motives are a devious danger; for instance doing good, with a misguided desire for praise for doing it.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer defined the pure in heart as “those whose hearts are undefiled by their own evil—and by their own virtues too.”
The pure in heart see God now through the eye of faith: “I have seen you in the sanctuary” (Ps 63:2). “Later we will see him face to face” (1 Cor 13:12 CEV).
Purer in heart, O God, Help me to be;
That I Thy holy face One day may see.
—Fannie Davison
God’s preventive against
spiritual heart disease is purity of mind.