I’m sure that if you’re a Sunday School – Bible School alumnus you remember a slightly different word in this verse.

It gets mis-translated a lot.

Many Bible-thumping types would have us believe that to be “pure in heart” is to be “without,” or as close to humans can get to being without sin. Preachers make the water analogy: pure water has no dirty junk floating around in it. Some harken back to the Hebrew Bible and the (in)famous Levitical Laws of Purity.

Keep the water analogy in mind as you meditate on this one some day: think of the water as missing the junk that makes it unclear. It’s missing the silt, etc., which “muddles it.” The details that “muddy the water.”

The more clear we are in in where we stand and what we believe, then the happier we will be. Not a bunch of blank-minded “beliefs” in a religious To-Do list that might not make any sense, but to come from a foundation of “This is what I believe,” and by questioning and conversing, those beliefs only grow stronger…

… and more clear.

Jesus said:

Happy are the clear in heart,
for they shall see
God!

Keep the faith!
- Amen

(the verse is from the Beattitudes, Matthew 5:1-12)