pure at heart [reconcile]

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to that person; then come and offer your gift.

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

-the words of Jesus

pure @ heart [reconcile]

After dropping off my girls to school this morning, I decided to recount as much of Jesus’ words in Matthew 5 as I could. Around verse 19 it started to get more and more paraphrased, fuzzy to be more exact. While sitting at a long red light in morning rush hour, I saw that my wife’s bible was in the car, so I opened it up and continued to read. When I read verses 23-24, I heard myself say out loud: “So, that’s what He meant.”

Dots connected.

My mind drifted to Jesus’ words to the Samaritan women where He explained, “true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth”. Just as soon as I had my mind around those words a question formed.

IS this what Jesus meant by worshipping in Spirit and in truth?

When we come to the altar or enter into a spiritual gathering with our minds on something other than meeting with God, then we have something that we need to “leave…in front of the altar” and “be reconciled to” that person. This is making sure that our Spirit is pure and that we are truthfully coming with the desire to meet with (worship) our Lord, Jesus. This is purity of the heart. Those with a pure heart shall see God.

How many times have I gone to a spiritual gathering with baggage, knowingly entering a service and completely aware of a relational schism in my life?

We can enter a spiritual gathering and have a spiritual experience. But let’s not confuse that spiritual experience with actually meeting with God. It’s more likely to be a self-made escape from reality. We must be very careful not to confuse a spiritual experience – or emotional experience – with worshipping and meeting with God. Especially when you come with an agenda other than a pure desire to meet with Him.

Jesus is pure at heart and He sees God. He is genuine, perfected worship. His words are not some lofty ideal. They are the way of Kingdom worship: meeting with and seeing God.

We must make every effort to prayerfully consider what relational areas of our lives need to be reconciled before we enter into a spiritual gathering. By asking God for the grace to see these dysfunctions in our lives, we will enable ourselves to meet with God and have a pure agenda – a pure heart.

To worship in Spirit and truth is to be pure at heart so that our spiritual gathering is a meeting with our Lord, Jesus – not just a meeting with a spiritual experience.