«Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God» (Matthew 5:8).
IN PSALM 17, a prayer in which David asks for protection, the king exclaimed, «Hear me, Lord, my plea is just; listen to my cry. Hear my prayer—it does not rise from deceitful lips» (verse 1, NIV). But aren’t all prayers supposedly a cry from the heart with sincere lips? In 1892, Ellen G. White offered one of the most beautiful definitions of prayer: «Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend.» I believe it is fitting to share what Henri Nouwen said: «To pray is to walk in the full light of God and to simply say, without holding back, ‘l am human and you are God ‘ »
Although prayer should be an exercise in sincerity from start to finish, Jesus warns us: «And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men» (Matthew 6:5). Here we see the dreadful attempt to combine prayer and hypocrisy. In those days, the Greek word hypocrites was used to refer to an actor, «one who pretends to be one thing, while in reality he is something quite.” Sometimes our prayers don’t reflect the longing of our soul; when we bow before God pretending to be what we aren’t, to be heard by other ears besides God’s.
A hypocritical prayer is full of grandiose, high-sounding words because it merely seeks the acceptance and admiration of fellow believers; it’s the voice of someone wearing a cloak of spirituality, but those are obviously empty words that come from a corrupt heart and mouth.
Jesus reminds us we shouldn’t be that way. When we pray, we should present ourselves before our Father as we truly are: God’s friends who acknowledge being sinners. When seeking Christ in prayer, we should do so «with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water» (Hebrews 10:22).
If we pray that way, as sincerely as if we were talking to a friend, we will enjoy the fulfillment of this promise: «Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God» (Matthew 5:8). And they are those who go before the Father to tell Him, «Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me» (Psalm 51:10).
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Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2023
“I AM WITH YOU”
From: J. VLADIMIR POLANCO
Collaborators: Lorina Maya & Angelica Cuate
