I am a Jesus pusher!!! “Blessed are the pure in heart” (Matthew 5:8). John Wesley proposed the idea of “Christian Perfection.” Then and now people respond in a negative way regarding the wordage. Yet, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls us to this substance of heart. “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Neither Wesley nor Jesus referred to perfect outward actions, perfect judgments, or perfect service. They both spoke of the substance found in a pure heart. Jesus gave this statement at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, speaking of loving your enemies. It is easy to love those who love you. Even the tax collector has this level of love. Therefore, how can one boast of love if he does not love more than those who cheat for their own self-centered betterment? We are to love like our heavenly Father who makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45). The perfection to which we are called is a perfection of heart purity, perfect love.
The legalistic Pharisees asked, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22:36). The answer was a Scripture they quoted at the start of every worship service. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). All the words describing the inner aspects of who we are (heart, soul and mind) are to be focused in love with the Lord your God. This same motive spills forth in how you treat and view your neighbor. Is this not heart purity? Only Jesus can accomplish this in my heart! I am a Jesus pusher!!!