Unpacking

Blessed are those who are pure in heart—they will see God.

Matthew 5:8

• Blessed – shown favour, honoured, made holy, happy.
• Pure – clean, without spot, without pollution, free from foreign elements, unaffected.
• Heart – seat of emotion, spirit, place of understanding, the centre.
• See – look at, know, understand, visit.

Happy are those who keep the centre of themselves free from pollution – they will be able to look at God.

Those who keep clean when it comes to what they feel, how they react will be favoured because they will understand God.

To be able to visit God people need to be unaffected by anything not from Him, they understand that He is everything and are happy with that.

If I want to be made holy I need to keep my heart, the centre of my being, the place where my will and wishes grow, clean. I need to let Him remove all foreign bodies that have nested there and focus with Him on maintaining that purity, on guarding my heart, on refusing to allow things that dirty or pollute me in there. Then I will understand Him better, see Him and remain in His presence.

I tried to unpack the verse to understand it better. I am sure you might have other variants on this, other ways of understanding it so please share them with me.

Now I need to unpack my heart to fit with the verse.