Pure in Heart

This coming Sunday I plan to preach Matthew 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." In studying for this sermon I read The Sermon on the Mount: The Character of a Disciple by Daniel Doriani. These two paragraphs help us see the importance of being single-minded in our pursuit of Christ in His holiness:

To be pure in heart means to live without compromise. Studies of World War II have shown that some American industries did a profitable business with Nazi Germany until the final stages of the war. IBM and the Holocaust, by Edwin Black, shows that Hitler's regime used American technology to organize slave labor and to manage death camps. IBM facilities operated in Germany throughout the war. Indeed, IBM's chairman, Thomas Watson, received Germany's Merit Cross for his contributions to German industry during wartime. Other researchers have show that IBM was hardly alone. ITT sold components for V-1 "buzz bombs." Ford and General Motors sold trucks; Standard Oil sold oil. RCA, Chase Manhattan, and others did the same, selling what they could. William R. Hawkins says that when national security and profits collide, expect businessmen to be businessmen.

Now so with you, Jesus says. In Jesus' house, men and women seek purity and single mindedness. We shun dual loyalties. We do not serve two masters, God and mammon. To pursue the Lord is to pursue his purity.