A Pure Heart

             Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

Can you imagine life as a musical? You’re on your way to work and suddenly there’s a flashmob dancing it way along the street. You edge past them and park your car at the same time that your boss gets out of his and struts around proclaiming what a powerful person he’s going to be, dancing his way across the top of his car and yours, and demanding that you join in… And that, all in ten minutes. Imagine the rest of that exhausting day.

People have described me as intense. Like most people, I’ve been taught that it’s not polite to get vent to my feelings or to tromp over others in my attack of whatever it is that has my focus. And that’s a good thing. I probably still vent and tromp more than I should - at least according to some folks. But somewhere along the line, I crossed a line. While it was acceptable for others to be passionate - even sometimes to the point of rudeness - it was not acceptable for me to be passionate about much, and then only quietly so. It was OK that I was into genealogy but do it at home and don’t bore everyone with it.

And there’s a little validity to that, but the point is that the lesson I learned was not how to be polite, it was that I am unacceptable. My opinions and intensity should be kept to myself. And I’m not having a pity party here - but do you see how subtle the strategy can be?

And so, we come to today’s passage with the understanding that even if our heart isn’t sinful, it may be so clogged with the lies and lessons the world, the flesh, and the devil have taught it that it’s like a pool into which sludge has been dumped, thimbleful by thimbleful every day over the years. The filter is now clogged, the water is brown and green, and you just avoid it. It’s not healthy for anyone to drink or splash around in.

We need for God to create a pure heart in us, not just because of our sin, but because of what has been done to it. We need Him to renew a steadfast spirit because ours had been beaten down. I have tended to see this passage as a “Woe is me, I’m a sinful worm” passage. Under the circumstances in which it was written, it is about sin and its effects in our lives, but what is true about our sin and its effects can also be true about the sin of others and its effect.

We should be gently and unapologetically passionate about some things. But to do that, we need a clean heart that is regularly maintained in good working order.