The second characteristic of a renewed heart is that it seeks purity. First Timothy 1:5 speaks of love out of a pure heart. In 2 Timothy 2:22 Paul encourages Timothy to be “with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” What does it mean for the heart to seek purity? According to the Bible, to have a pure heart is to have a heart with a single motive. Purity, therefore, is a matter of motive. If we do something with a double motive, our heart is not pure. Whatever we do must be with a single purpose, a single motive, for God Himself. We should not have any other purpose. We love God, and because we love Him we do certain things for Him without any other motive. If this is our situation, then our heart is pure.
In Matthew 5:8 the Lord Jesus tells us, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” To be pure in heart is to be single in purpose, to have the single goal of accomplishing God’s will for God’s glory. According to this verse, those who are pure in heart shall see God. In order to see something clearly, we need to focus on it. This is to be pure in our seeing. In like manner, to be pure in heart is to have a single aim. Our goal, our aim, should be God Himself, and we should not have any other motive.
If you read all the verses in the Bible concerning the heart, you will see that these two characteristics of a renewed heart-turning to the Lord and being pure-are the basic matters in the Bible with respect to the heart. If we turn to God and seek purity, we shall have the proper way to “switch on” our heart toward God. By turning our heart to Him and by being pure in our motive toward Him, the switch of our heart will be turned on and the divine electricity will flow within us. Otherwise, the switch of the heart will be turned off, and God will be cut off in a practical way from our daily living. Then evil things will come out of our heart. It is the source, the spring, and the issue of all manner of evil things. According to Matthew 12:34 and 35, both good and evil things may flow out of our heart: “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man out of the good treasure brings forth good things, and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.” Furthermore, in Matthew 15:8 the Lord speaks of those whose heart is far away from God. Then in verses 18 and 19 He goes on to say, “But the things which go out of the mouth come out of the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnessings, blasphemies.” From these verses we see that out of the heart flow the springs of human life.
Turning to God and being pure toward God are the two matters that govern our heart. Psalm 73:1 speaks of a clean heart: “Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.” We have already pointed out how both the Lord Jesus and Paul stressed the importance of a pure heart. We need a heart turned to God and a heart that is pure toward Him.
Now we are ready to see what it means for our heart to be established blameless in holiness. Not only should our heart turn to God and be pure, but it also needs the element of holiness added to it. To be holy is to be separated unto God and fully occupied by Him and saturated with Him. For our heart to be holy means that it is separated unto Him, occupied by Him, possessed by Him, and saturated with Him.
Once again we may use the illustration of making tea. Suppose you have a cup of plain water. This water does not contain any tea. But when the element of tea is added to the water, the water is tea-ified. The water is separated unto the tea, it is possessed and occupied by the tea, and it is even saturated with the tea. As a result, it becomes tea-ified water. After the water has been fully tea-ified, it is in a state of tea-ification, a state of having been tea-ified. This illustrates what it means for our heart to be established blameless in holiness.
One version of 3:13 says “in the state of being holy.” The word holiness indicates a state; it does not indicate a process. A process would be indicated by the word sanctification. Therefore, it is correct to speak of holiness here as the state of being made holy.
When we were away from the Lord, our heart also was turned away from Him. Instead of being occupied by the Lord, our heart was occupied by many other things. Furthermore, our heart certainly was not saturated with the Lord. Thus, our heart was away from the Lord, it was not occupied by the Lord, and it was not saturated with the Lord. However, we can praise the Lord that, through His mercy and grace, we are now on the way to being separated fully unto the Lord, to being occupied wholly by Him, and to being saturated thoroughly with Him. When this process has been completed, our heart will be in the state of being holy, in the state of holiness.
For our heart to be established blameless in holiness includes much more than simply for our heart to turn to the Lord and to be pure toward the Lord. This is to have our turned and pure heart separated unto the Lord, occupied by the Lord, and saturated with the Lord. Such a heart not only has turned to the Lord but it also has a pure motive. It is separated unto Him, fully occupied by Him, and thoroughly saturated with Him. It is here in such a state that our heart will be established. Once our heart has been established, it will be set, and it will be no longer movable or changeable. Furthermore, when our heart is in such a condition, it will become blameless.
To be blameless is not the same as to be perfect. When something is perfect, it is without blemish or defect. This goes beyond blamelessness. In other words, to be without blame is not as good as to be without blemish. In 3:13 Paul does not require perfection. Rather, he requires only that our heart be blameless. The way for our heart to be blameless is for it to be established by the Lord. If our heart is established by Him, we shall be those whose heart has been separated unto the Lord, occupied by Him, and saturated with Him. Then our heart will be set, established, built up, in holiness. Here, in this state of holiness, the state of being made holy, our heart will become blameless.
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