Sermon Central
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Seeing God In Your Life
Contributed by Bruce Hadley on Jun 8, 2021 (message contributor)
Summary: Last week we talked about going through the spiritual wilderness experience, were you feel God is silent in your life, and you don’t sense His presence. However, we concluded that God is never silent, and He is always present in our lives.
Last week we talked about going through the spiritual wilderness experience, were you feel God is silent in your life, and you don’t sense His presence. However, we concluded that God is never silent, and He is always present in our lives.
As Christians, we are to know that God is at work in our lives every day, guiding, shaping, growing and strengthening us all the time. However, for many, hearing that God is always at work in our lives is but a mere Christian cliché’ spoken to sound spiritual, because many of us miss seeing God in our daily lives. Sure, we see the beauty of God’s creation every day. The sunrise, the birds flying overhead, the flowers are beautiful, the natural wonders of the world, the cycle of life, etc. But, I don’t actually see God at work in my life?
In the world, we heavily rely on what we can see which dictates our response and reaction in and to our life. Each day we face the challenges of life, financially, vocationally, relational, physical and even spiritual, and the circumstances of life are what capture our attention and we focus on them. And, in this busyness of our day-to-day life, many of us miss seeing God in our daily lives.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8).
The phrase will see is the Greek word: ???? horaó (ho’-r owl'); which means to perceive, discern, be aware. Horáo ((ho’-r owl') – is more metaphorical meaning: "to see with the mind" (i.e. spiritually see), i.e. perceive (with inward spiritual perception).
So, what Jesus is saying is not in reference to some future event or appointed date when you leave this earth and now you’re in the presence of God seeing Him face to face. No. He is speaking about seeing God in your daily life here and now. So, what does it mean pure of heart.
The Greek word for “pure” in Matthew 5:8 is katharos (ka-tha-ross). It means to be “clean, make blameless.” The word specifically refers to that which is purified by fire or by pruning. John the Baptist told people that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11). Malachi speaks of the Messiah as being like a “refiner’s fire” (Malachi 3:2). Jesus refers to believers as being the branches and to Himself as being the vine (John 15:1-17). For a vine to produce fruit, it must be pruned. Those who are “pure,” are those who have been declared innocent because of the work of Jesus and who are being sanctified by His refining fire and His pruning. Pure, katharos (ka-tha-ross), does not mean, without sin, but that of being cleansed, being pruned, held blameless. And, the Greek word for “heart” in Matthew 5:8 is kardeeah (cardia), and this refers to the spiritual center of life. It is where thoughts, desires, sense of purpose, will, understanding, and character reside. So, the pure of heart, Jesus is referring to is those who through the redemptive work of God is held blameless, has and is being cleansed, pruned and refined through God’s grace, and they now have a singleness of heart (thoughts, desires, sense of purpose, will, understanding and character) towards God.
I hope you understood that! The pure of heart is a person whose life, through the redemptive work of Christ, is now focused on spiritual matters, the things of God.
When David the Prophet/King looked at his life, he saw God’s fingerprints all over it. David was confident that the Lord was always right there with him (Ps. 16:8 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand…). David, a man like us, was a sinner, was given God’s grace, forgiven and cleansed of his sins, pruned and refined by the Lord. But, David had an awareness of God’s presence and involvement in his daily life. Even as a kid, David saw the fingerprints of God in his life.
David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee. The evidence of God’s great power is all over your life, if only you will see it. But, many of us don’t see God it in our daily lives because we lack the spiritual perception because of our eyes are focused on the busyness of our day-to-day lives. However, we can train ourselves to be more spiritually perceptive of God’s hand at work in our lives. Viewing the world with wide-open spiritual eyes changes one’s perspective. But, seeing with spiritual eyes isn’t a now-and-then kind of thing—it’s a lifestyle. Like David, we must train our spiritual eyes to notice evidence of the heavenly Father’s presence in our daily life.
