How to Have a Pure Heart

2/12/1993

A Question:

How do you have a pure heart; how do you make yourself have a pure heart? I can see how you can have a clear conscience—you can list the things….”Well, I’m not clear about this thing…” But how do you have a pure heart?

Purifying Takes Energy and Fire

I think the word “pure” means “free from impurities.” Think of pure gold – if there is nothing else in it but gold, then it is pure gold. If there is mixture, if copper or other metals are present, then it is not pure gold. Pure gold is nothing but gold. The way to have a pure heart is to remove the impurities in your life through honesty with God, through sifting your motives, bouncing things off God—anything that appears to be impure, anything that would adulterate. If you want pure water, you want nothing else in it but water. If there are impurities, then those must be removed. Whatever it is, anything that you would add that would make it less than pure, take those things away. I believe God doesn’t leave us in the dark about those things. God lets us know.

Something else to remember about refining or purifying something is that all these things take energy and fire. If you start with impure gold, there is all this mixture, this alloy. In order to separate the precious gold from the other stuff, you have to put it under intense fire. The kingdom of God is entered forcefully. There is forcefulness to it. To purify water, you must boil it. It takes energy to purify. Likewise, in our lives there is energy that we have to exert for that purification to occur. God is faithful—He is going to do what He needs to do, but we have our part in it, too.