Purity of Heart

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 | Lent Meditations

As we pass through the forty days of Lent, let’s regularly recall to mind these verses from the first week:
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded…. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. -James 4:8,10

Sören Kierkegaard once wrote a meditation on James 4:8 which he entitled, “Purity of heart is to will one thing”. It is our “double-mindedness” that is our downfall! Our desires are for God and….
If I had written that meditation, I would have said, “Purity of heart is to love one thing.” I think what we love is even more primary than what we will, or choose, because our choices are based on what we love the most.

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” -Mark 12:28-31

When our love is divided up a hundred ways, we are pulled in a hundred directions, and we can’t truly love anything or anyone well—we can’t love wholeheartedly. But when love for God is our ruling affection, the love that undergirds every aspect of our lives, then all our loves are rich and right! The very love of God flows through us to everyone around us. Loving God with our whole selves, undividedly, is how we are able to truly love others and how we can be pure of heart.

Father God, please help me today to love you with my whole self: heart, soul, mind, and strength. Please reveal to me the areas of my life which I have not given completely to you. I want to have a pure heart, to be humble before you, and to come near to You so that You will come near to me. In Jesus name, amen.

Tags: Lent 2010