Take a moment to reflect on the state of your heart. In other words, a soft heart acknowledges that things aren’t always going to go our way…and that’s okay! A soft heart, on the other hand, recognizes the brokenness that we all suffer as humans. The margin here, as the Hebrew, is 'the clean of hands.' And a pure heart - Not merely the one whose external conduct is upright, but whose heart is pure. A heart that has been hardened by circumstances or relationships is one that rejects any sort of filter (guarding or thankfulness). The 'hands' are the instruments by which we accomplish anything and hence, to have clean hands is equivalent to being upright. Soften the Heart – Hard-heartedness is the opposite of a pure heart. This is harder said than done, isn’t it? If this is something you struggle with, slow down your response time! Count to 15 or 30 (or however long it takes) and find thankfulness in the circumstance before saying or doing something you may regret! Have a Thankful Heart – Think of it this way: guarding the heart serves as a filter for that which is incoming, and expressing thankfulness serves as an internal filter that ensures what comes out is clean and pure. What comes in, whether good or bad, will affect what comes out! Remember the children’s song, “Oh be careful, little eyes, what you see?” Well, there’s wisdom in those lyrics! Take heed when it comes to what you (or your children) are taking in during the day. Guard the Heart – Proverbs 4:23 teaches “above all else guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Guarding the heart prevents contamination. Psalm 24:3 asks “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place?” The answer is found in the following verse “The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.” What comes out of a pure heart is not only much easier to clean up than that of a dirty one but it is also is a mark of a Christian. Just like the glasses, what is in our hearts will naturally spill out when we are faced with minor trip ups during the day or major trials and temptations of life. It’s easy to see where I’m going with this. “If this glass gets tipped over, which is the easier one to clean up?” The kids all agreed…the clean water was the winner again. The second half of the lesson was more to the point. Of course, the kids all pointed to the glass of crystal clear water. Then we asked “Which would you rather drink?” The children watched as the dirt quickly contaminated the clean water. The first glass was left alone but to the second glass we added a scoop of dirt and gave it a good stir. We took two glasses of clean, drinkable water. Many years ago, when our children were younger, we used a very simple demonstration to compare a pure heart with a dirty heart. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” Matthew 5:8
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