"Love's Pure Light" - 2

"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8) This verse, taken from what is commonly known as The Beatitudes, which was also called, The Sermon on the Mount, I have written in my Bible after 1 John chapter 3; but the funny thing is, this verse is written out, but the Scripture reference with it is John 14:23. As I was looking at that verse in John 14:23 yesterday, at first reading, I thought, Hey, this is not "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God", what was I thinking when I wrote this? I thought maybe I had one of my half-sleepy sermon notes written at the bottom of the page; but then as I read the Scripture again, this time also including the question asked by Judas, the Light went on! The word for pure, which is in Matthew 5:8, is the word 'katharos' meaning to be unsoiled or clean; which is a whole different meaning than the word 'purifieth' from 1 John 3:3, because the later means to prepare one's self for purity, while the first one means to be pure. Specifically, in Matthew 5:8, it means to be clean or pure in a spiritual sense from the pollution and guilt of sin, sincere, upright, and void of evil. Couple that with the word for heart, which is 'kardia' meaning the seat and center of human life; which consist of the desires, feelings, affections, passions, impulses, i.e., the heart or mind. Now what we are talking about is very much in line with both John 14:23 and 1 John 3, because what Jesus was saying, as He answered Judas' question, How is it we can see You, but the world can not? (paraphrased), was that only a sincerely pure heart can see God, and a sincerely pure heart, is a heart that loves Him; and a heart that loves Him will keep His words! And as we look to the meaning of pure, as specified for this Scripture, it means to be free from not only the pollution of sin, but the guilt of sin also!!! "For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight." (1 John 3:20-22)