February

I am one of those curious people.  I sometimes wonder about the strangest things and try to find the answers.  Recently I began to wonder about the names of the months.  

The ancient Roman empire fell centuries ago but its influence remains. Many of the months are named for Roman Gods.  As February drew near I began to wonder for what this month is named.  Here is what Wikipedia has to say: 

February got its name from the Latin word "februum," which means purification, linked to the ancient Roman festival of Februa that involved rituals of cleansing. This month was added to the calendar by King Numa Pompilius around 713 BC.

Basically, February was the month of purification. Naturally, that got me to thinking about purity.

In our Sunday evening Bible study we have been studying the Sermon on the Mount. Since we just started this a few weeks ago we are still working through the beatitudes. Thinking about February and purification linked up in my mind with our discussion of "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

What does it mean to be pure in heart? When something is pure it is all one substance. There is nothing foreign in it. Pure gold, is gold. With God's help our hearts need to be purely His. No room for anything but God. Something we must continually work toward.

Seeing God! The pure in heart will see God. Consider someone who doesn't have a pure heart toward God. That person will not see God's hand in the events of his or her life. They will not see God as they walk in the forest or under the beautiful sky. Even as we wait for our new bodies where we will be able to stand in the presence of God and see Him as He is, we can see him all around us if we have pure hearts.

As we move through February let's work on purifying our hearts, filling them so full of God that there is no room for anything else.