No verse of Scripture has been more effective in keeping me sexually pure than Matthew 5:8.
When I first became a believer, I went to a weekend retreat called Purity & Holiness. It was a two-day seminar designed to teach young people about dating, sex, and marriage. I bless God for its impact on my life. And—not surprisingly—one of the key verses impressed upon us that weekend was Matthew 5:8.
The impact of this singular verse has been massive in my life. But not because I rightly understood its meaning at the time. In fact, I would say, that I misunderstood much of its true meaning because I took Jesus’ words as a command ordering me to purify myself . . . or else I wouldn’t see God.
Yet, that’s not exactly how the beatitudes work. Matthew 5:8, like all the beatitudes, has imperatival force, but the beatitudes are not commands. They are (speaking of their genre here) blessings that Jesus pronounces on his disciples. They are qualities that his followers must have to enter the kingdom, but they are also qualities that he gives to his followers.
When I first heard this verse, without understanding how Jesus used these words in his Sermon on the Mount, I took it as a command to stop being impure, and to begin pursuing purity. By reading it that way, Jesus’ words though emphasizing purity, did not give me any power to be pure.
Via Emmaus 