Pure of Heart

[thepathofchrist]

Pure in heart


“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see GOD†(Matthew 5:8)

This beatitude makes all our efforts real, authentic, and sincere. To be pure in heart is to have motivations that are always selfless and dedicated to GOD ; there is neither falsehood nor egotism. When we have completely dedicated our whole life to GOD, holding nothing back, only then can we touch upon this purity .

One problem is the wrongful understanding of what it means to be a Christian . Many of us believe that going to church and giving to some noble cause makes us a good Christian. We can do and say all the right things, but in the end, we have done nothing more than most others. The path that Jesus shared with us is not only about going to church or giving to some non-profit organization. We are also told to change the very essence of our being through inner purifications.

“Cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.†(Matthew 23:26)

The essence of this seed is self-awareness . By investigating our motivations we begin the process of unraveling the ego’s chains. There are three signs of a person who has a pure heart : they would never say or do anything that would go against the Will of GOD . Their actions , speech , and thoughts open people’s hearts rather than close them, and they would never use guile, lies, manipulation, or force to accomplish things. Each sign points to a person who is not only aware of their actions, but also fully aware of how their actions affect others. In other words, we could say that a person who exhibits these signs are GOD-centric not EGO-centric.


Things to contemplate

“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see GOD†(Matthew 5:8)
1. What does it mean to be pure at heart?

2. What does it mean to see GOD?

“Cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.†(Matthew 23:26)

· What does it mean to cleanse the inside the cup and platter?

· What are we to cleanse?

· How can cleaning the inside make the outside clean?

· What connection if any is there between this verse and (Matthew 15:8)?


Practices to help us connect with this Beatitude

· Make a list of all your motivations for a week.

· Seeing all living beings and things as part of GOD’S creation. We would never destroy something that our children made in school or something our parents built. Likewise, we would never seek to cause harm to anything that GOD made.

· Do things opposite than how we do them normally. For instance, maybe we have extra money that we are going to treat ourselves with and then all of a sudden we find that there is a person who is holding a sign on the off ramp – instead of using that money for ourselves we could give it away.

· Every time we sit down to meditate, study, or talk about something spiritual, we dedicate it to GOD and to all of GOD’S creation.

Quoted from The Path of Christ: Awakening Compassion Within

 

[mia]

To be pure in heart is to have motivations that are always selfless and dedicated to GOD ; there is neither falsehood nor egotism. When we have completely dedicated our whole life to GOD, holding nothing back, only then can we touch upon this purity .

Thank you so much. That was a thought-provoking and touching post.
Gives us all something of the most high to strive toward every day.

 

[Devekut]

PathofChrist,

Thank you for your insightful post, I was especially drawn to what you said:

The essence of this seed is self-awareness . By investigating our motivations we begin the process of unraveling the ego’s chains.

Purity of heart is a kind of emptiness in God, as Christ taught that we must lose our life to Him if we are to truly save it. In authentic submission and dedication to Christ we are able to dissolve the egoism, the attachments and identities that have built up in a lifetime of false autonomy and ignorance of God's omnipotence and will.

Two of the names of God that we find in the Hebrew Bible are "Esh Oklah and El Kana" meaning Consuming Fire and Jealous God.

The most sublte and dangerous kind of idolatry and paganism is the idolatry of the heart in which we inwardly worship the images of permanence and endurance of our identities and situations, the image of success, material security, physical beauty, social status and the perceptions of others. There is even the more sublime trappings such as the image of spirituality and salvation and the emotional highs we gather from feeling chosen and selected for an individual or group salvation in opposition to the world.

The Consuming Fire and Jealousy of God will consume all of this grime and identity-construction , all of this pride and these attachments if we truly take up the beatitude of Christ and seek the blessedness of purity of heart. Truly, such a God of Fire is terrifying for in Him, if we are truly obedient, we will lose everything that we hold to in egoism, we will lose all- our very life.

This emptying is the purity of the blessed.

 

[Guest]

Pure in heart


“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see GOD†(Matthew 5:8)

This beatitude makes all our efforts real, authentic, and sincere. To be pure in heart is to have motivations that are always selfless and dedicated to GOD ; there is neither falsehood nor egotism. When we have completely dedicated our whole life to GOD, holding nothing back, only then can we touch upon this purity .

One problem is the wrongful understanding of what it means to be a Christian . Many of us believe that going to church and giving to some noble cause makes us a good Christian. We can do and say all the right things, but in the end, we have done nothing more than most others. The path that Jesus shared with us is not only about going to church or giving to some non-profit organization. We are also told to change the very essence of our being through inner purifications.

“Cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.†(Matthew 23:26)

The essence of this seed is self-awareness . By investigating our motivations we begin the process of unraveling the ego’s chains. There are three signs of a person who has a pure heart : they would never say or do anything that would go against the Will of GOD . Their actions , speech , and thoughts open people’s hearts rather than close them, and they would never use guile, lies, manipulation, or force to accomplish things. Each sign points to a person who is not only aware of their actions, but also fully aware of how their actions affect others. In other words, we could say that a person who exhibits these signs are GOD-centric not EGO-centric.


Things to contemplate

“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see GOD†(Matthew 5:8)
1. What does it mean to be pure at heart?

2. What does it mean to see GOD?

“Cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.†(Matthew 23:26)

· What does it mean to cleanse the inside the cup and platter?

· What are we to cleanse?

· How can cleaning the inside make the outside clean?

· What connection if any is there between this verse and (Matthew 15:8)?


Practices to help us connect with this Beatitude

· Make a list of all your motivations for a week.

· Seeing all living beings and things as part of GOD’S creation. We would never destroy something that our children made in school or something our parents built. Likewise, we would never seek to cause harm to anything that GOD made.

· Do things opposite than how we do them normally. For instance, maybe we have extra money that we are going to treat ourselves with and then all of a sudden we find that there is a person who is holding a sign on the off ramp – instead of using that money for ourselves we could give it away.

· Every time we sit down to meditate, study, or talk about something spiritual, we dedicate it to GOD and to all of GOD’S creation.

Quoted from The Path of Christ: Awakening Compassion Within

Two questions if I may ask you:

1) Who is GOD?

2) How does one become self-aware?

 

[thepathofchrist]

Who is GOD? Self-aware

Who is GOD? That is a strange question to ask in a Christian forum. Is it a challenge to me personally or is it a genuine question you seek the answer to for yourself? That is the real question. I know GOD through the bible. Is there another way or something else you had in mind when asking me this?

As to self awareness - the quest itself is the beginning of awareness. When we stop for a moment and wonder why and how - that is the start to a life filled with self-awareness. GOD BLESS

 

[Guest]

Re: Who is GOD? Self-aware

Who is GOD? That is a strange question to ask in a Christian forum. Is it a challenge to me personally or is it a genuine question you seek the answer to for yourself? That is the real question. I know GOD through the bible. Is there another way or something else you had in mind when asking me this?

It was meant to be a simple question. However, we can delve deeper in light of two things I see in your post and response:

1) You captialize all the letters in God. Any reason?

2) In the same vein, you use all lowercase letters when referring to the Bible. Any reason?

Perhaps a better question should have been - Who is God to you? In your understanding is the God of Christianity the same as the God of Islam or Hinduism?

As to self awareness - the quest itself is the beginning of awareness. When we stop for a moment and wonder why and how - that is the start to a life filled with self-awareness. GOD BLESS

Without the Holy Spirit's revealtion to us and conviction, we cannot begin to know who we are or be 'self aware' to our need of a Creator.

 

[thepathofchrist]

Thanks

The reason why i capitalize every letter of GOD is to emphasis the One. As for not capitalizing the bible - that is something that never occurred to me and so now i will make a point of being aware of it. Thank you.

In regards to the question, "is GOD the same as that of the Hindu and Islamic faiths: It is an interesting question that i choose to ignore. By putting them together i am assuming you do not think so. I would have asked is the Christian GOD the same as the Hebrew and Islamic faiths and left out Hindu altogether as there is no direct link between the Hindus belief of GOD and that of the Hebraic history as far as i know. I do not care to debate or argue for anyone stance in these forums.

I only want to share what GOD has blessed me with in my life. As you can see from my posts, i am not attacking anyone’s beliefs or for that matter, even challenging them. I am only offering practices that help us awakening the qualities Jesus told us to embody and give us some direction in bettering ourselves. I am not a scholar, nor for that matter, a very intelligent person to stand up to debate. So please forgive me if i choose to let certain questions lay unanswered. There is already too much dissention and differences between Christians – i wish to find some common ground that all can share. GOD BLESS

 

[Guest]

Re: Thanks

The reason why i capitalize every letter of GOD is to emphasis the One. As for not capitalizing the bible - that is something that never occurred to me and so now i will make a point of being aware of it. Thank you.

In regards to the question, "is GOD the same as that of the Hindu and Islamic faiths: It is an interesting question that i choose to ignore. By putting them together i am assuming you do not think so. I would have asked is the Christian GOD the same as the Hebrew and Islamic faiths and left out Hindu altogether as there is no direct link between the Hindus belief of GOD and that of the Hebraic history as far as i know. I do not care to debate or argue for anyone stance in these forums.

I only want to share what GOD has blessed me with in my life. As you can see from my posts, i am not attacking anyone’s beliefs or for that matter, even challenging them. I am only offering practices that help us awakening the qualities Jesus told us to embody and give us some direction in bettering ourselves. I am not a scholar, nor for that matter, a very intelligent person to stand up to debate. So please forgive me if i choose to let certain questions lay unanswered. There is already too much dissention and differences between Christians – i wish to find some common ground that all can share. GOD BLESS

I have visited your website that you promote, and I noticed that you mention meditation and yoga - typically two practices of the Hindu religion. A Hindu would suggest that Hinduism is not polytheiestic - rather they worship various images or representations of the same god. In other words, one god who reveals itself in multiple ways.

And while Islam will attempt to claim that Allah is the same as the Hebrew God (YHWH) it is clear in that this is not the case - both from the Hebrew Scriptures and the Islamic qu'ran.

Therefore, I believe it is not only an interesting question, but an important question that I wish you would not ignore. For the sake of those that read this forum and for yourself as well.

UNity comes from embracing the Truth as revealed by God in His Holy Scripture. We can only better ourselves when we allow the Holy Spirit to transform us into the image of Christ (this is not something that we can do on our own.)

Romans 12

 

[thepathofchrist]

GOD BLESS

Thank you for visiting my website. I cannot remember mentioning yoga anywhere in there. As for meditation, that is a word that is used a few times in both the New and Old Testaments. Hinduism cannot claim that as theirs.

As to what the Islamic traditions believe or not, i do not know. Nor for that matter do i have any authority on what the Hindu regard as their beliefs in polytheism or one god. What i can tell you from my own experience is that any words we might exchange between us will not bring us to unity. No matter how much each of us believes Christ is in our lives. We can all see for ourselves how Christians believe differently on what embracing the Truth as revealed by GOD means. Who am i to say what is or is not true? Rather, i will leave it to GOD to sift the chaff from the wheat. Words, words, words will get us no-where. Prayer, meditation, reading the scriptures, listening instead of talking all the time, practicing those things that make us better, not judging, and doing whatever we can to walk the Path of Christ are all things we can do to help us find unity. Arguing and debating things that have no real value towards uplifting and uniting ourselves with what Christ sought for us is counterproductive. Who cares what another person believes - why do we focus so much on others while leaving ourselves at a loss for the truth that GOD lights within our own hearts. How does debating on what a Hindu believes have to do with opening our hearts and becoming pure in our actions, words, and thoughts - as this topic was originally started as. Too much time is spent on intellectualizing and not enough on action. Better would our time be spent exchanging ideas on how we can become purer in the sight of the LORD. Things we can do not say; for while it is impossible to become truly pure, we can at least try.

Are we exchanging these words because we wish to trip each other up and show that our individual beliefs are the better or truer, do we need to find fault in each other so we can feel better about ourselves. If you wish me to list all my failings, faulty beliefs, and mistakes: i can write forever. If, on the other hand, you wish to help me become better and more whole - than that is a different story.

As i said in my last post, i do not care what other people believe. I am not here to judge others or to debate about the meaning of GOD. Who am i but a speck of sand. Who am i to say what or who GOD is? All i can know is what the Bible and other great saints and mystics of the Christian past tells me. And even that, i am not much in wisdom to truly understand what they are saying.

Prayer and practice is all i can do and i try to do that every single day. I pray that we have an understanding between us. Because i really do not care nor wish to debate about what other people believe, nor do i care to put myself out there in pronouncing my beliefs in order to give reason for belittling or negating what i have written in the Path of Christ. I am a no-body, a speck of sand, a lonely cry who calls out daily to the LORD. If that is not enough, i do not know what will. GOD BLESS



UNity comes from embracing the Truth as revealed by God in His Holy Scripture. We can only better ourselves when we allow the Holy Spirit to transform us into the image of Christ (this is not something that we can do on our own.)

 

[Guest]

Why do you assume that I am here to debate your words - seeking clarity is not seeking to debate you. If I wanted to debate you, I would invite you to the debate forum.

While I am not suggesting you are this, does the Scripture not tell us to be weary of the false teachers?

A shephard needs to protect his flock as well.

 

[Atonement]

The PathofChrist,

I also visted your site, and you do mention Yoga in your bio. Any reason? Also I noticed in your home page, you offer many ways to live but do not mention accepting Christ, or asking for forgiveness? Why is that?

 

[Atonement]

The only path to Christ is by acepting your a sinner, and casting all your cares to Him and accept Him as your Lord and Saviour. The other (life styles) should follow your conversion.

 

[thepathofchrist]

More words

Thank you for specifying where you saw the word yoga. The reason why you saw that there was to show where i have come from, that is all. As to “many ways to liveâ€Â, i am not sure if i understand what you mean by that. I am not telling anyone how to live, merely sharing practices that i use to help me grow closer to Christ and overcome weaknesses. Take as you wish, if it helps, then so be it – if not, ignore it. That is all. I am not telling anyone what is right or what is wrong. That is something we must confront with GOD, not some young child as myself.

To the question of accepting Christ and asking for forgiveness, that is just common sense. A pre-requisite shall we say to walking the Christian Path. I want to go the next step. Every book on Christianity works off the premise that the reader has accepted Christ into their lives and asked for Forgiveness. It is after that, which needs may clarity.

As to debate: seeking clarity is merely a guise to dig in and find some trash. Why are you seeking clarity with me? I know you say to protect your sheep, but is there something deeper? What is your purpose, your intention, your agenda? Do you think what i say is misleading, do you think i am some teacher who wishes to take people away from GOD? Have you found some fault in my words that lead you to believe i am against your flock or GOD? These are the real questions needed to be asked. I will not claim to be a teacher. I am only sharing what i do and have learned and grown from. These practices have helped me grow closer to GOD because i have used them and grown closer. Find fault with what i have written in the book and then let us talk about that so i can learn and grow from your insights. Otherwise, let us please avoid these frivolous hunts for some unforeseen agenda that only brings tension and no growth.

Christ is my Guide, my Shepherd, my Savior, my Light and Life – while i am sure there are differences between us that will not find a balance no matter how much we write and seek clarity – one thing is for certain. Light by whatever means still allows us to see truth when it is before us; lighter, candle, lamp, light bulb, or a small little flickering lightening bug like myself. Christ is the way, the light, and the truth; simple and to the point. Would some misleader of the masses say such words? If i were truly a false prophet, i could say whatever i wanted to mislead even the elect. Even the devil can say such words; for it is the truth. Truth shall be known by the fruits of the tree not words. Remember that as you ask me future questions. To be able to trick the elect, a false prophet must be able to say whatever they will to trick them – that includes saying the same old acceptable tests to prove someone is a Christian. Look at the fruits of my words, what are they pointing to. To Christ through action not words alone. Remember, whoever cannot speak against Jesus is one with him; there is nothing i could or ever would say against the Christ. GOD BLESS

 

[Guest]

Re: More words

Why are you assuming that I am being critical of you?

 

[thepathofchrist]

Balance

Just a feeling. If i am wrong, then i apologize. Too often i find myself getting into conversations with others that solely evolve around belief, so that by the time thirty minutes passes bye, nothing really has been said other than a concurrence of faith. That does not make us or the world a better place. Instead, what often arises is tension between beliefs – even with everyone believing in the same GOD. There are too many differences between denominations, even too much between people of the Church. I am inclined to write about my practices to help if possible. It does not matter if you are Catholic, Protestant, Episcopalian, or any other great denominations of Christianity. Practicing patience, perseverance, love, charity, and all the other Christ like qualities crosses all barriers and all differences of beliefs. If i am wrong, then GOD shall be my judge. Like i said in my earlier post, i am not a teacher nor for that matter do i ever care to be placed on such a pedestal. All honor, reverence, and worship goes to GOD and GOD alone. For GOD is the only source and power in creation. GOD BLESS

 

[Guest]

thepathofchrist - hopefully you would let our discussion evolve to the point where you would know for sure my motives. To be quite honest, it appears to me that you have made some quick judgements.

I believe that the Christian Life is supported on two pillars: orthodoxy and orthopraxis - right doctrine and right practice. When either one is given too much weight - then the Christian Life is unbalanced.

For example, we might know that it is wrong to steal - but it is important to know why it is wrong to steal.

Without an absolute standard to base our actions on - those actions are not grounded and can be easily changed. On the other hand, what is an absolute standard without action? Merely words typed on a page.

The Path of Christ must begin with Christ and lead to the Heavenly Father, God, I AM. Any other path - while perhaps paved with good intentions and good actions is a very wide path - with ultimately will end in destruction.

I trust that the path you are advocating is a path that starts with a confession of Jesus Christ as Lord in one's life to help keep Christ on the Throne chair of one's life that keeps us focused on our Heavenly Father - it is a narrow path that needs many guides to help those on the path. I pray that you are one of those guides. May the Lord keep you on that path, growing in the Knowledge and Love of Christ, as may He do the same for me and others on this forum. Amen.

I look forward to continious discussions as we learn more about each other and the work that the Lord has laid for us.

 

[thepathofchrist]

Thank you. Your words are well received. As i accused you of pre-judgment, i found myself doing the very same thing. As you say, right doctrine and right action need to be balanced. As well, i agree the Path must begin, remain, and end with Christ. The Narrow Path is a hard one to follow, and as you say, even the right intentions can eventually take us away from the very Path we sought to follow. In my heart, one of the few protections against missing the Path is to always have GOD within the heart, to know our motivations inside and out, and to give all honor and reverence to GOD and GOD alone. GOD BLESS