1 - Introduction - Living like a real Christian 7 - Blessed are the pure in heart | Page 3

of the law as evidenced in a guilty conscience. The truth of the matter is that we as
human beings cannot will not to sin, because our will is not strong enough. And if
we could will not to sin, then Jesus would never have had to die. The fact that Jesus
died to take away our sin indicates our helplessness to will ourselves not to sin.
You see, there are perceived to be two ways to attain perfection. The one is through
human achievement, which as we have said, is impossible and only leads to guilt
and shame. The second, however, is through divine accomplishment, where we
realise that Jesus didn’t die to make us better people, He died to make us perfect
people.
Ephesians 1 v 7 says, “By faith in what God has done through Jesus we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of his
grace.”
Today as we begin a week speaking about purity, won’t you remind yourself of the
futility of human effort being the means to attain it, but take some time to
contemplate what it means to abandon yourself to the achievement of Jesus as
being the means to our perfection of purity.
Prayer Thought: Pray today around the truths that we have just spoken about,
thanking God that our perfection is not based upon our performance, but upon
Jesus’ sacrifice. If you are a Christian of many years, won’t you remind yourself
afresh of these awesome truths and pray today as if this was the first time you had
heard about it.

Tuesday
Reading: Matthew 22 v 1 – 14
Today, we continue in contemplating verse 8 of Matthew 5, where Jesus speaks
about the happiness that comes for those who are pure in heart.
There are five types of purity as we see them unfolded in Scripture:
#1: Primal purity – this is the purity that exists only in God. In God there is no failure
or imperfection; He is perfect in His nature, power and in His ability to fulfil