Daily Devotional

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

“Blessed are the pure in heart,

  for they shall see God.

The first thing we must recognize is that God is concerned with our heart, and not just our outward actions. Matthew 23:25-26 says, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and rapacity. You blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and of the plate, that the outside also may be clean.”

Simply changing society doesn’t satisfy Jesus; he is concerned with changing the hearts of its inhabitants as illustrated in Matthew 5:27-28, “You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

The heart is who we really are on the inside, and although no one else can see it, God can. Who we are at the invisible level matters just as much to God as who we look like to everyone else on the outside. So, the heart is crucial to Christ, and who we are in the deepest recesses of our hearts is of utmost concern to Him. Christ came not to break us of some bad habits, but to radically alter the very fabric of who we are.

Prayer:

Lord, I confess the hidden evils of my heart. You are all too familiar with just how evil I am, and I ask that you would forgive me. I confess that even my good acts are done out of sinful motivations. Please create in me a new heart, Lord.