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Live life with a pure heart
Pastor's corner
pastor corner

We live in a world that is fueled by agendas. Man, by nature, tends to look out for himself. Occasionally, (it is one of the rarest occurrences) you come across a person who’s only true agenda is the success and betterment of those to whom he or she is related. There is a person who is never quite understood. There is a person who is often rejected on the basis of trust. A pure heart often leads the bearer to be alone, even among thousands.
Matthew 5:8 teaches, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”
Proverbs 4:23 states, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the issues of life.”
In other words, your heart functions as a filter through which everything in life passes. If your filter is clogged with issues of the past, before long, the filter doesn’t purify anymore. It actually deposits pieces of the past into your present circumstances.
It is from purity of heart that you see God in every situation. The moment your heart is not pure, you view every situation through the lense of that impurity. That is why there is no such thing as true objectivity. Opinions are like belly buttons — everybody has one. And even if you are a bystander in a situation, the moment you are called on to vocalize you opinion, your opinion comes with the filter of your own beliefs, education and past experiences. You judge based on how you were judged.
One of the main reasons people reject Christ is because they do not trust His agenda. They filter His desire and view for their life on the basis of what they believe about their own desires. In short, “Why would He want change? What is His agenda?” It is measured by the view formed by their own hearts, which is cluttered by their own pasts.
With a pure heart, there is no agenda. With a pure heart, you have objectivity because you choose to see only Christ in the situation. When your heart is scaled with a past, you see agendas everywhere, in everybody. You vocalize and decide where you stand and where you walk and even defend that stance and walk as God-driven, never taking into consideration that God may be doing something different than you have ever experienced in your own life.
Momentum is fed by belief. What you believe determines upon what you feed, where you go, how you live and how you judge others. If your heart is cluttered, you will see your past in every circumstance — either how that circumstance will affect you or how you lived through it.
If your heart is pure, you will see God. You will give Him the benefit of the doubt. You will see Him in others. You will allow His grace to work and move forward without fear — thus being able to love in the manner that He loves, forgive in the manner He forgives, trust Him and move in the direction He guides. You will feed the journey and develop momentum into your future.

Byler is the lead pastor of Connection Church in Hinesville.

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