🕊️ The Pure of Heart

 Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

I used to think this verse meant we had to work for a clean heart in order to qualify for the reward of seeing God. But now I realize—it’s the other way around. The heart gets purified by God. And seeing Him is the evidence that He’s already been at work in us.

Though seeing God is a flex, it’s not because we’re good, but because He’s faithful.

Here’s how it became real to me:

When I realized that God has revealed Himself in my life—and that He looks just like the proclamation He made of Himself in Exodus 34—I was struck. I knew what I saw. I knew Who I saw. But then I asked myself, "Does this mean that I have a pure heart?"

That question didn’t stay unanswered. Because when I looked back, I saw His faithfulness. I remembered what He said—that He would give us a clean heart. And I realized: if I can see Him, then He must have already been doing the work in me.

I also thought about how I'm not alone in questioning worthiness. Moses said he couldn't speak. Gideon believed he was too weak. Jeremiah thought he was too young. Isaiah said he had unclean lips. And yet, God still chose them. Still revealed Himself to them. Still used them.

He promised He would give us a clean heart—

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.” (Ezekiel 36:26)\

He promised—and He’s faithful to His promises.

So when we say we’ve seen God, it’s not because we climbed some mountain of holiness. It’s because He set us in the cleft of the Rock—in Christ—and revealed Himself there.

When Moses asked to see God’s glory in Exodus 33, God responded by placing him in a cleft in the rock and covering him. That rock, we now understand, is Christ. And from that place, God declared who He is:

“The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness…” (Exodus 34:6)

That wasn’t just an introduction.
That was the glory. That was the view.
God revealed Himself not through thunder, but through nature—His own.

So let me point Him out.

If we can look back over our lives and see His mercy,
if we can see His grace,
if we recognize His slowness to anger,
His faithfulness,
His abundant love—

We’ve seen God.

Not with our natural eyes, but with our spirit.
Because God is Spirit. And those who know Him, encounter Him, worship Him, and perceive Him must do so in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)

We don't always realize what we’ve seen until later.
Most times, it's in hindsight that we say, “Surely, God was in this place.”
But the fact that we even can recognize Him… that’s spiritual sight.
That’s a purified heart.

And that’s not our achievement.
That’s His faithfulness.

Jesus said, “No one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” (Matthew 11:27)

So if we’ve seen God—if we've come to know His heart—it’s because the Son has chosen to show us. It’s because He made our hearts new enough, soft enough, open enough to see.

That “knowing” is eternal life.

“Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3)

So no—this isn’t pride.
It’s worship.
It’s awe.
It’s gratitude that the God who hides Himself also reveals Himself—and that He’s done the work in our hearts so that we can see.

We didn’t just see an attribute.
We see Him.

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But let me take this a step further.

“Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint..." (Proverbs 29:18)

This doesn’t just mean people lack direction. It means that when we don’t see God clearly, when we don’t have a true vision of His Kingdom, we live ungoverned. Our desires run wild. We chase lesser things.

But Jesus said:

“Seek first the Kingdom of God..." (Matthew 6:33)

That’s vision. That’s focus. When we see Him—truly see Him—we become restrained. Not restricted, but anchored. Held steady. Governed by glory.

When the vision is of God's faithfulness, mercy, sovereignty, and love, that vision holds us. It keeps our spirit in alignment. It reshapes our hearts to reflect His.

And that kind of vision leads us to walk in the reality of our original design—restored to us through Jesus Christ and Him crucified:

"Let Us make man in Our image... and let them have dominion..." (Genesis 1:26–28)

To see God is to be restored to our created purpose:

• Blessed

• Fruitful

• Multiplying

• Replenishing

• Subduing

• Exercising dominion

Seeing God doesn't just transform our hearts. It realigns our entire lives.

So if we've seen Him—even if we didn't know what we were seeing at the time—it's because He has done something in us.

He has kept His promise.
He has purified our hearts.
He has revealed Himself to us.
And now we walk with vision.

And that vision restrains us...
into wholeness.
into purpose.
into Him.

Where have you seen His faithfulness—without realizing it was Him at the time?

Lord, enlighten the eyes of our understanding, that we may see You—and continue to see You.