Seeing God.....

"The pure in heart shall see God."

-Matthew 5:8

"The pure in heart shall see God."...What emotional response do these words evoke in you?  Fear?  Hope?  Hopelessness?  Shame?  Self-righteousness? 

I wonder if we tend too much to fixate on the former part of the verse, rather than the latter, putting the cart before the horse.  When seeing these words in black and white, without knowing Jesus' heart behind them, they can conjure up an image of a God with a white glove, meticulously, perhaps mercilessly, going over our lives, wanting cleanliness for the sake of cleanliness, chastity for the sake of checking off some cosmic criteria.

God does desire purity in His people, but as a means to an end, as a course to communion with Himself.  When we allow Christ's cleasing to wash away the things that obscure our view and varnish our vision, we can more fully engage with our God, we can see the Way clearly to this precious place of intimacy with Him.

God craves companionship with us, His creation; He is not a clean freak, He's a fellowship freak.  His desire is not for a white washed fan base, but for followers He can call friends.

"I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking and planning, but I have called you friends."

-John 15:15 (The Message)