We live in a photogenic rich society where appearance matters. And we use all kinds of filters for our cameras and photo apps to capture and edit the most remarkable versions of ourselves and our surroundings.
What the technological features of these filters can accomplish is quite amazing. But really, what is its intent?
A filter is meant to clarify.
To illuminate the primary subject of each photo. To help us slow down and stare intently at the prize of each collection of pixels. It has the capacity to blur out the background, provide contrast, and manipulate the lighting and color.
A filter can also purify.
Many families have filtration systems attached to their faucet or located within their refrigerator to acquire purified drinking water. Water out of the faucet is good. It can suffice. Quench the thirst. But purified water is simply more refreshing. Eliminating some of the contaminants that flow through the pipes of our homes.
In essence, whether we give much attention to areas of life that necessitate a filter, we certainly experience the benefits of their application quite frequently. Developed photos from a disposable camera and drinking water from the kitchen sink will never be preferred over megapixel camera applications and water filtration systems that provide greater quality and refreshing satisfaction induced from these technological enhancements.
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “happy are people who have pure hearts, because they will see God.” What He was saying was ‘happy will be the people who have a God-shaped filter on their hearts.’
These words of Jesus are addressing our spiritual transformation. We are spiritually bankrupt apart from His rescuing grace. This leads to a repentance that turns our lives in a different direction and embraces a new position and perspective on life. Seeing ourselves in light of what Christ has done for us and in us allows us to see others differently and sets our lives on a trajectory that is far different than the one we once knew.
When we hear the word pure what comes to mind? Unstained. Unpolluted. Uninfected. Untainted. It glistens. It’s genuine. Authentic. Clean. Refined.
What does it look like to have a pure heart? Certainly one void of the blur caused by the uncertainty of what’s right and good. One that isn’t contaminated by the world’s attempts to sell us on pursuing our fleshly desires.
I’ve often said that life is much more gray than we care to admit. The unfortunate result of seeing life as gray rather than black-and-white is it sometimes produces a fuzziness in our circumstances like an antenna causes a television screen in the middle of a thunderstorm.
How do we know if our hearts are pure? There seems to be a direct correlation between our hearts and our hands; realizing that our outer man becomes a manifestation of our inner being.
Matthew wrote, “out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” Whatever is in us will eventually protrude out of us, revealing the true nature of who we are. The psalmist said, “Who can stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, and has not lifted up his soul to idols.” If we want a pure life to be put on display there must be the foundation of a pure heart on which it is built.
Sometimes it’s difficult to identify the condition of our own hearts. Our hearts can be deceitful. It can lie to us. Convince us that we’re fine when we’re not. That we’re on course when we’re actually lost like a ball in high weeds.
A deceitful heart makes connecting with a holy God extremely difficult. When we can’t be honest with the One who knows us completely yet loves us immensely we become stagnant in a place of hypocrisy; attempting to convey a dishonest view of ourselves while keeping the reality of our true selves hidden from everyone else’s view.
Jesus followers who were once happy in Him, who were experiencing a purity of heart that led to rightly seeing Him, need to experience a re-calibration of the soul. Our hearts need to come back to the place where we were once before. And a pure heart cannot be experienced apart from the abiding truth of God’s Word in our lives. Paul describes this purity, this holiness and blamelessness, can come through a cleansing by the washing of water by the word.
So how do we maintain a heart that is pure? It requires a singular focus on seeking the heart of God. Our hearts must not become divided. We cannot give our soul’s affections to any other lesser substitutes in this world. We cannot contemplate or compromise what we think the offerings of our flesh can provide. We cannot become enamored by, satisfied with, or find as life’s greatest treasure, any idolatrous pursuit the enemy attempts to use to lure us away from the one true God.
A life lived in purity will require our eyes set to see only Him, our ears set to only hear His voice, and our heart turned in a direction to only have an affection for His will and His way in our lives. It will require total surrender to His plans. And permission granted to the Spirit of God to work and transform our way of living from the inside out.
The outward appearance of a man completely devoted to the work of Christ in him will be a man living a life radiating an unadulterated heart of purity that only comes when he sees and surrenders himself to God.
Kortney Jones 
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