Sometimes one word can make all the difference!

For example, "may" in a legal document is entirely different from "shall." The first makes an action optional; the second makes it an obligation.

In Jesus's teachings in Matthew 5, two words (7 letters) in the 6th Beatitude make all the difference -- not only for the original audience but for us.

"Blessed are the pure" is an entirely different message than "Blessed are the pure -- in heart!"

In the original audience's culture, "purity" had descended to an exhaustive (and exhausting) list of "thou shalt's and thou shalt not's." Over the centuries people had added their own items to God's original list of moral, ceremonial (instructions on how to worship God), and civil (political) laws. These were easy to measure because they were external.

Yet these additions corrupted the entire purpose for the laws -- just as some of our laws today become more about serving a system than the people for whom the system was originally designed!

But "purity" based culture, wearing a "Christian" tag, is still around. It might be subtle to-do's that infer a higher Christian maturity -- like early morning "quiet time" ranking higher than mid-afternoon "quiet time." Or it may be stringent formulas like those taught during the height of the "purity-culture" movement which shared elements with cults.

The addition of Jesus' two words -- "in heart" -- made (and still make) all the difference! True purity always works from the inside out, not the reverse.

We unpack this truth today and look at how we can assess our own hearts.

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