SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/15/2020
11:29 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Meaning”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 5:8
Message of the
verse: “Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God.”
In today’s SD we begin to look at the meaning of this
verse as we kind of break down some of the key words in the verse.
I want to look up the word “blessed” in my Online Bible
Greek/ English Dictionary and then look to see what MacArthur has to say about
it. “1)
blessed, happy” is about all it has to say about this word, and this is the
same word that begins many of the beatitudes.
MacArthur writes “The word ‘blessed’
implies the condition of well-being that results from salvation, the status of
one who has a right relation to God.
Being accepted by Him is a matter of internal transformation.”
Now
we will do the same for the word heart: “1)
the heart
1a) that organ in the animal body which
is the centre of the circulation of the blood, and hence was regarded as the
seat of physical life
1b) denotes the centre of all physical and spiritual life
2a) the vigour and sense of physical
life
2b) the centre and seat of spiritual life
2b1) the soul or mind, as it is the fountain and seat of the
thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavours
2b2) of the understanding, the faculty
and seat of the intelligence
2b3) of the will and character
2b4) of the soul so far as it is affected and stirred in a bad
way or good, or of the soul as the seat of the sensibilities, affections,
emotions, desires, appetites, passions
1c) of the
middle or central or inmost part of anything, even though inanimate”
MacArthur writes the following about
this word: “Heart translates kardia, from which we get cardiac and
similar terms. Throughout Scripture, as
well as in many languages and cultures throughout the world, the heart is used
metaphorically to represent the inner person, the seat of motives and
attitudes, the center of personality.
But in Scripture it represents much more than emotion, feelings. It also includes the thinking process and
particularly the will. In Proverbs we
are told ‘As [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he’ (Pro. 23:7, KJV). Jesus asked a group of scribes, ‘Why are you
thinking evil in your hearts?’ (Matt.
9:4; cf. Mark 2:8; 7:21). The heart is
the control center of mind and will as well as emotion.”
When one looks at different “religions”
like the ones that the Pharisees had one can see that what they are trying to
make the outside clean and not do anything with the inside. Jesus said that it is the inner man, that is
in the core of his very being, that God requires purity. So they missed the boat, and every religion
today that has these same principles that the Pharisees had misses the boat
also. What Jesus is talking about is not
a new truth, but an old one long forgotten amidst ceremonies and also
traditions. Let us look at Proverbs 4:23 “Watch over your heart with all
diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.” Think back for a moment as to why God
destroyed the earth by the flood. “Then
the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” I know that there were probably more reasons
that that, but the highlighted portion of this verse gives us the main reason
God destroyed the earth by a flood.
We
will conclude this SD by looking at some things that David wrote, along with
other writes of Scripture to help us better understand the meaning of our verse
from Matthew. One of the more famous
things that David wrote in the Psalms is Psalm 51 and we will be looking at
verses six and ten: “Behold, You desire
truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know
wisdom. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O
God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
I have heard Warren Wiersbe say “The heart of the matter is the matter
of the heart” and it seems like this fits here in these two verses from Psalm
51. Asaph wrote the following in Psalm
73:1 “Surely God is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart!” We have another rather famous verse that comes
from the pen of Jeremiah who writes the following in Jer. 17:9
10 “9 “The
heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can
understand it? 10 “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give
to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.” When a person begins to do something evil it
will always begin in the heart and mind and Jesus comparably sues them
in Matthew 15:19 “"For
out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts,
false witness, slanders.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: “Pr 4:23 Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from
it flow the springs of life.” The
word heart is used in the combination of Psalms and Proverbs 184 times with 64
in Proverbs and 120 in Psalms.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To have a
little talk with Jesus, to learn more about contentment, and thus be more
content, and to learn more about humility and thus be more humble, and to
continue to have joy in my heart as I study God’s Word.
5/15/2020 12:08 PM
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