2020 Thursday Devo — Sustaining Purity

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

At times, we’re guilty of going to God expecting him to do something for us. While there’s nothing particularly wrong with asking God or seeking an answer from him, the dangerous mindset that we might fall into is that we reduce our relationship with him to something transactional. I do this for you and you do this for me. This is how the world works right? So it’s easy to apply the same principle to our relationship with God.

Well, let’s say we had a friend and that friend was always looking for something from you.

“Hey, can you __________?” “Hey, I need __________.”

Maybe they’ll make some compliments along with their request.

“Hey, you’re really awesome!… By the way, could you?” “You’re really great at this! Can you help me with __________?”

You might get a little wary when they start to do something nice for you, because they might be doing it because they want something in return in the future. Thinking about this, we might even approach our parents in the same way. It’s nice to know that we’re useful, flattered even, but what about being loved for just being us? If we know how this would make us feel as people, for someone to be nice to us because we’re just useful to them, it’s the same with us and God.

Thankfully, as faulted as we are in our posture before him, God is patient, compassionate, merciful and forgiving. And he always takes the first step in making things right — all we need to do is admit our mistakes, take his hand, and continue to take steps towards him.

Take some time to confess any ulterior motives when it comes to your relationship with God.

Let me ask you this, when was the last time you spent time with God just to be with him? Just to enjoy him? Just to soak in his presence? Just to listen to each other?

Here’s the thing: presence is one of the greatest things we can give God.

One of the myths that we’ve come to believe is that we need to do things for God, like, we need to serve him. But God doesn’t need to be served, because any god that needs to be served by people isn’t really God. God doesn’t need our service. He already loves us. There’s nothing we need to do for him. He’s able to do everything. His desire is to be with us and involved in our lives.

And so, for us, a purity of heart before God means that the only thing that we’re seeking is God himself, knowing that we don’t have to do anything and not expecting God to do anything for us. Inviting God to be with us and bringing ourselves to spend time with him. Those moments of intersection are the moments when we will see God, and our lives will never be the same because of those moments.

Take some time to invite God’s presence into your life. Ask him to show you the ways he’s moving in the world and in your life.