A Man After God's Own Heart

I wish I had all the answers. We all have questions, and typically I am comfortable with my take on the answers. That is, until I try to explain my position to someone else.

For instance, one question posted at The End of Time Well Spent, titled "I'd like a show of hands", asks the question "what does it mean to be pure in heart?"

To me, it's one of those questions where my first response is "oo! oo! Pick me! Pick me! I know this one!!", until I'm called on to answer and then I can't put it into words. I think I can recognize it when I see it, but how is it explained? So I decided to do a little Word study. I am no Bible scholar and I may very likely misconstrue information from various resources (i.e., Greek/Hebrew lexicons, etc.), but my intent is to see what God says it means to be pure in heart.

I tried to think of people in the Bible who I consider to have a pure heart:

One of the most obvious to me is David. Here’s a guy that is described in 1 Samuel 13:14 as a man after God’s own heart! You can’t get a more pure heart than God’s. We see throughout his life where he is conquering the enemy by following God and placing his faith completely in Him. Even when, in man’s eyes, he had every right to kill King Saul, who was out of God’s will and trying to kill David – this man of God refused to hurt the King because Saul was God’s anointed.
When David fell into sin, he did it in a big way. Adultery, deceit, murder – far from pure, that is certain. And yet when he was confronted by the prophet of God, he was broken. He saw his sin as God sees it, confessed it, and repented. What wonderful grace and mercy our God shows when we come before Him with a humble, broken heart!

Daniel is another that comes to mind. He sought to please God even at the risk of losing his own life.

Noah obeyed God in the face of ridicule from his peers.

Joseph trusted God even when his circumstances were overwhelming.

Well, you get the idea – I’m sure you could add even more to the list. But seeing how these people lived out their faith may give us insight on what having a pure heart is all about.

What does God say specifically about a pure heart? Matthew 5:8 says “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” The Greek word used for “pure” here seems to be “kaqaro”, transliterated “Katharos”. The definition includes words like clean, blameless, innocent, genuine, free from corrupt desire. And the heart (kardiva/kardia) can be defined as the “seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavors” – you know, the soul – mind, will, and emotions. So to be pure of heart would mean our soul – the very core of our being which is the center of our mind, will, and emotions – needs to be clean, genuine, blameless.

But how do we achieve that? If we were to study the lives of these people God gives as examples, I think we would find people who spent countless hours in fellowship with God; listening to Him, talking with Him, seeking His guidance. I think, for me, to maintain a pure in heart, I will need to give God more of my time – in His Word, in prayer, in worship. Not just on Sunday, but everyday. It’s a personal, one-on-one time with Him. Oh, I definitely need my corporate worship, fellowship, and Bible study – there’s no doubt of that. But if that’s my only time with God, then I will become a man after the world’s own heart, or a man after my own heart – neither of which are pure – quite the opposite as a matter of fact.

Well, I’ve muddied the waters, I’m sure. I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface of what God has to say about having a pure heart. But maybe I’ve piqued your interest enough, as someone did for me, that you might dig even further in God’s Word to see what He has for you.
God Bless