At my church recently, the priest talked about seeing God with a pure heart. An example he cited was John the Baptist. According to the priest, John the Baptist had a pure heart, for he was born without original sin (at least I think that's what the priest said). Consequently, while John at Jesus' baptism heard a divine voice that said "This is my beloved Son," the other people heard only thunder. The priest also commented on the innocence of children and how they are free from the corruption that adults have accumulated over the years. For the priest, that explains why kids have good and pure insights. The priest concluded that people can identify God's activity only when they are pure of heart.

There are plenty of areas in which I can nitpick. For example, the voice of God was not mistaken as thunder in the Gospel stories about Jesus' baptism, but rather in John 12:28-29. Also, people who lack a pure heart can see and identify God's activity. The Pharaoh of the Exodus got to the point where he believed that Moses' God was causing all the plagues, yet his heart was still hardened.

At the same time, one can make a Scriptural case for the priest's position. In many cases, those who identify and embrace a work of God do so because of the purity of their hearts. Jesus says in John 7:17, "Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own." Luke 8:15 states, "But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance." A person with a pure heart will see and accept God's activity.

That doesn't mean that believers are perfect when they receive the Gospel. The disciples embraced God's activity, yet they were clearly flawed. Jesus affirmed, after all, that he did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:13). I'm also not questioning the doctrine that humans are inherently sinful, for Calvinists and Arminians would both agree that purity of heart is necessary for saving faith. They just believe that God must play a role for the heart to become pure.

A pure heart is having a righteous motivation. The disciples had pride and a desire for status like other men, but they were willing to learn from God and become a part of what he was doing. The Pharisees of the Gospels, by contrast, made power their idol, so they rejected God's activity of healing and deliverance.

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