I am often guilty of having high expectations. If I allow myself to daydream too long, I conjure up grand ideas that can differ greatly from reality. The irony is that expectations, although seemingly well intended, can lead to great disappointment and discontent. In fact, we might just miss the best blessings in life when we are too consumed by our high expectations.

Recently my Sunday School class has been studying the book of Mark. The book of Mark is an action-packed, fast-paced account of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. One of the themes we have been discussing is expectations. When Jesus began to preach and teach, He immediately attracted large crowds. He shared parables with them and performed healings in their midst. On one such occasion, Jesus commanded evil spirits who were shouting, “You are the Son of God!” not to shout and share His true identity.  Why would Jesus want to keep His identity a secret? Did he not come to save us? According to our study, Jesus preferred at this point in His ministry to keep His identity a secret because He did not want to reinforce a popular misconception. The people in this time were looking for a messiah. They had long been under Roman rule, and they hoped that the prophesied Messiah would come and save them from their current military oppression. Their expectation was a military, conquering hero; a hero who would free them from their physical bondage and promote the Jews towards national supremacy. This popular idea was formed from the expectations of those whom long desired world power. Jesus was no such king. He came not to free us from military bondage, but to free us from our sins, our spiritual bondage, a freedom worth far more in the long run.

The point is this: our expectations, though often reasonably formed, can cause us to miss out on great blessings. Some of the Jews got it. They heard with their ears, and they believed. Others, however, kept buying into the idea that Jesus was the war hero they had been waiting for. Are we imposing our own expectations upon Jesus? Are we buying into any false realities that are keeping us from experiencing His true Messiahship? As William Barclay says, “Jesus saw in Messiahship a way of service, of sacrifice and of love with a cross at the end.” Once again, the Gospel takes our worldly expectations and flips them upside down. Why would God send a Messiah who would ultimately be conquered, destined to die on a cross? That was the question that the disciples were even asking. Too often we fail to see the bigger picture: Christ rose from the dead three days later, conquering the very thing that sought to conquer Him: death. Christ lives, and He lived not to wipe out armies and world nations, but to wipe out the sins in our lives so that we may have a deeper, sustaining, and saving relationship with Him. Let us not miss this blessing, the greatest blessing of all, because we are trapped by worldly expectations.

Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Of all the Beatitudes, this one is the one that hinges on all the rest. You cannot be “poor in spirit” if your heart is not pure. You cannot mourn for a separation from God if you are not pure in heart. You cannot be meek or hunger and thirst for righteousness, or be merciful without being pure of heart. You cannot be a peacemaker or be persecuted for righteousness in Jesus’ name if you are not pure of heart. Bottom line, being pure of heart is the essences of the blessings of God because all the others are subject to the state of your heart.

When you think about your life, what are your goals? Most of us finished high school, started a trade or went to college. Some of us finished college, started a career or graduate school. After graduate school, we got a job, married, started a family, saved money, bought a house, a car, put in a swimming pool or purchased an RV. Some of us have kids that are in school or graduated. We have kids married and starting families. We are saving for retirement or are retired. Now what?

The question this Beatitude answers is really simple – our lives must be dedicated to loving and serving God – to learning about His Word and implementing it in our lives. Our plans should be more about God and His vision for our lives than a nest egg of money. When we live with a pure heart, a heart that yearns for God, a heart that loves our neighbors, a heart that wants to honor God, all the rest falls into place.

The plans of our lives should start with the simple statement, “I want to develop a heart that is pure in God’s sight.”

At the very heart of receiving the blessings of God is our heart. What is the state of your heart?