Matthew 5:8 - How To Find More of God–the Uncomplicated Way

Commit the curve of your life to one particular word and you’ll notice it everywhere. Open. The word with layers that only uncover more. That relaxes my tight-fist hold on the way I think it should be. Pushes gentle but steady against my grain. Uproots beliefs that build walls where there should be bridges.

I spot it right away in Matthew 5:8.

What bliss you experience when your heart is pure! For then your eyes will be open to see more and more of God.
TPT

Open leads to more. It’s the same message that first arrested my attention in 2019 when the word plunked itself in my thoughts as if it planned to stay awhile. I say it found me because I wasn’t looking for it. Never chose a word-of-the-year before. Really had no idea what to do with it.

Sometimes God’s like that. Whispering just enough to send you searching for what it’s all about.

So I did what made the most sense at the time: put the word open on a graphic and saved it as my phone wallpaper. This meant it was constantly in the front of my mind, a nudge to lean into the pieces of the word I thought I understand, tiptoe into unknown territory, and ask God to guide.

Let’s take this same approach to unpack Matthew 5:8.

A Pure Heart

The prerequisite to bliss, according to Jesus, is a pure heart. Turn with me to Psalm 24:3-6, which reveals the markers of a pure heart:

Who, then, ascends into the presence of the Lord? And who has the privilege of entering into God’s Holy Place? Those who are clean—whose works and ways are pure, whose hearts are true and sealed by the truth, those who never deceive, whose words are sure. They will receive the Lord’s blessing and righteousness given by the Savior-God. They will stand before God, for they seek the pleasure of God’s face, the God of Jacob.
TPT

Those who can stand, pure and undefiled, in the presence of a glorious, holy God are simply those who seek Him. Who long to know God’s nature. What moves Him to joy and to tears. What melts Him. What arrests His attention.

But I’m guilty of looking for God in answers or how He provides and missing that He is still God apart from what He gives. That He Himself is the treasure.

I pray for what I want rather than asking God what He wants—and praying that. Put definitions and qualifiers on what makes Him generous and good. Clench my fists when I don’t understand what He says is best.

You too?

The answer is the same for both of us. Time. Time spent in conversation. Listening and sharing hearts, dreams, questions, and sorrows. Like we do with our good friends. The ones we’d bare our souls to and know they still have our backs. Because God is like that, only better.

No wonder Jesus tells us the blessing is bliss. Pure hearts know the weighty glory of God. Pure hearts know they’re cherished beyond measure—that that can never earn or cancel God’s love. Pure hearts know they are always welcome, always wanted. Pure hearts get to join God’s family mission to make His name known everywhere people are looking for purpose and belonging.

Open Eyes & Clear Vision

Why? Because heart purity creates vision clarity. Eyes “open to see more and more of God,” Jesus says (Matthew 5:8 TPT).

More of His never-failing faithfulness.

More of His boundless grace.

More of His deep wisdom.

More of His sure and steady peace.

More of His unconventional leadership style.

More of His infinite creativity.

More of His better-than-ours timing.

More of His tireless kindness.

More of His relational nature.

More of His adoring gaze.

More of His yearning for our full attention.

More of His desire for two-way communication.

More of His mercy-driven priorities.

More of His disciple-making mission.

When we see God for Who He is, we know our worth the way He sees it, understand the way the people around us move His heart.

And not only do we get more of God when we’re saturated in His purifying nearness, we get “more and more.” In other words, there isn’t a limit. An infinite God can never fit inside a human brain, so as much as we know God, there’s always more to discover.

Maybe that’s what spurred these words from King David in Psalm 17:15: “I will see your face until I see you for who you really are” (TPT). As in we gaze upon His face until we know Him more fully. The footnote points us to the Hebrew word for “gaze,” chaza (Dr. Brian Simmons).

Gazing suggests a gentle but purposeful resting of the eyes. There’s intention. Perhaps adoration. And an element of longevity.

I think peace. Breathing deep. Contentment.

Chin lifted to the sun. Feet in a mountain creek. Tasting the wild, reckless love of God in the spray of ocean waves.

Tracing His face in the familiar ones around me.

Worship songs on repeat. Planting myself here on my knees. Pressing my face to the floor. Stretching hands to heaven in praise and surrender. Whispering “thank you” for gifts—reminders that He’s here. That He cares. That He sees me. Knows me.

Finding More of God

Sometimes we make seeking God more complicated than it actually is. Get hung up on the where and when and how—or how we haven’t already.

If that’s you, try this: Start asking God, show me where You are throughout your day.

Turn it into a breath prayer (which is simply a short prayer to match the rhythm of your breathing) like this:

God, show me (inhale)

where You are (exhale).

The expectancy postures your heart differently. It helps you stay attentive. Truth is that God is always waiting to be found. It’s us with the closed fists, hearts, eyes.

I’m over living life with half-closed eyes, saying I want more of God but giving everything else my attention and affection. If you are too, here’s a prayer for the both of us:

Jesus, here are my hands. They’re open.

Here is my heart. It’s open.

Here are my eyes. They’re open.

I want to see You—more and more of You.

Just a friend over here in your corner,

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