Pure in Heart

Being pure in heart is not only referring to moral or sexual purity, as Bridges states he used to believe. The heart is used in Scriptures to describe “one’s inner being” or “ the ‘real you.’” Pure is being completely clean of all dirt or imperfections. Put it together, and being pure in heart means to be spotless from sin.

To be pure in heart is not something we are capable of. We are in fact imperfect, and we are incapable of willing ourselves to remove all sins from our life. And we need to be able to admit that we are incapable of being pure in heart.

Bridges states that his belief is that we must accept “the lordship of Christ in our lives” in order to grow in purity of heart. We need to be able to grasp that we are not our own, but we are Christ’s. He bought is when He died on the cross. Once we accepted Christ we no longer were our own. We are not His possession.

Because we are His, we must accept our responsibility, to glorify God and serve His purposes (1 Corinthians 6:20, 1 Corinthians 10:31). We also must accept that we have no rights. We cannot claim that we have the right to good health, success, or to be treated with fairness and dignity, even if we eat well, work hard, and treat others with fairness and dignity. We have no right to our life because we were purchased by Christ. Whatever He allows or doesn’t allow is up to Him and His will.

Bridges points out that a lot of believers are happy to live a “decent Christian life.” They avoid the major sins but are unwilling to allow God rule in their lives. Obviously this is not what God requires of us, but how do we get motivated to take that step in our Christian walk? Bridges states that it is by remembering and focusing on the cross. He purchased us and now owns us by rescuing us from sin and an eternity in hell (2 Corinthians 5:14-15, Romans 12:1).

One pivotal reminder Bridges offers is that we need the Holy Spirit if we want to be pure in heart. He states, “We cannot by our own willpower unite our hearts to fear God – that is, to reverence Him and seek to glorify Him.” We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and be constantly exposed to the Word of God. We need to acknowledge that we left to ourselves are incapable of being pure in heart. And as Bridges states to conclude this chapter, “It requires humility to acknowledge that we no longer belong to ourselves but to Christ.”

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