To Live is Christ — purity in His presence

Today’s devotional reading concentrates on being in God’s presence. Actually, His presence cannot be escaped. He is Spirit and everywhere. What the reading means is having that sense of His presence, a conscious recognition that He is with me.

The reading uses these verses to describe how this is possible, and for whom. That is, if I want to sense the presence of God, my life has to be clean, and clear, and sincere.

Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. (Psalm 24:3–5)

That “pure heart” jumps out at me. Jesus talked about it too. He said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

This is not so much about visibility or seeing with the eye as it is about knowing or perceiving with the senses. I think of a blind person who knows another person is in the room without seeing them. Their other senses are sharpened. It is the same with “seeing” God. Purity of heart removes all that distracts and muddies spiritual sensitivity.

My mind is somewhat attention deficit. I have a difficult time with focus, or can focus on one thing to the point that I forget to make supper. This is both a blessing and a challenge. The good part is that I know God is everywhere. As long as I have no reason to avoid Him, by thinking about His presence for a few moments, I am keenly aware of it.

The negative is that a jillion things can distract me from God. Like many others, I start to pray and wander quickly to the items on my to-do list for the day. I read my Bible and if the passage is familiar, my eyes pass over the words and my mind is redecorating the bathroom. I sing worship choruses in church and am wondering what to have for lunch.

Sometimes purity of heart is not so much about being sin-free as it is about being free from the clutter of  other thoughts that are less than thoughts of God. How can I worship in spirit and in truth if my mind is cluttered with daily trivia or plans for my next quilt? How can I receive what He wants to give me when I’m already filled with my own plans? Or cluttered up with my own ideas about what is vital? My heart might not be impure as in dirty or full of sin, but it can be muddled just the same by the cares of life and even ordinary daily tasks.

What can I say to this? The presence of God is fullness of joy. It is courage to face challenges. It is that which makes daily humdrum a delight. I want to know, sense, feel, experience the reality of Him being with me. The clutter might not be sin (or is it?), yet I want the same as David wanted when he said, 

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)