One man's fryer grease is another man's gold.  Today's New York Times is reporting that fryer grease theft is escalating around the country.  Fast food restaurants store the stuff in 50-gallon barrels, and used to pay to have it hauled off.  But now such "yellow grease" (its formal name) is escalating in value, as it can be converted easily into biodiesel fuel.  There's actually a commodities exchange for it, where it has quadrupled in recent years. 

With the right purpose, anything can be of value.  Even your life and mine.

We're learning to find the happiness Jesus alone can offer, focusing this week on his sixth Beatitude: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God" (Matthew 5:9).  To be "pure in heart" means to be single in purpose.  Why seek such a transforming, singular life focus?  Because this is the only way to "see" God.  Let's explore this promise.

We cannot see God with our physical eyes: "You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live" (Exodus 33:2).  But we can "see" God spiritually.  Hebrews 11:27 says of Moses, "he persevered because he saw him who is invisible."  Exodus 33:11 states, "The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend."  We can know God this intimately, but only if we are pure in heart.  Hebrews 12:14 warns us, "Without holiness no one will see the Lord."  But if we are "pure in heart," we will.

In this season of presidential primaries, campaign contributors will pay $10,000 for a table at a dinner, hoping just to meet their candidate.  Imagine knowing intimately the God who created the universe.  You can, but you must be pure in heart.  You must choose a single life purpose.

So how do we become "pure in heart"?  We're not the first to ask Jesus.  Remember the lawyer's trick question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?" (Matthew 22:36).  Which of our 613 commandments will you neglect, so we can convict you of breaking the law?  His answer summarized all the law and the prophets, all the word and will of God: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…Love your neighbor as yourself" (vs. 37, 39).

The two are one, two wings of the same spiritual airplane, both essential for the soul that flies into the presence of God.  If you will love your Father with your decisions, worship, and thoughts, and serve the next person you meet, you'll experience God today.  You will sense his presence, know his direction, and find his peace.  What's keeping you from walking with God this morning?  We'll continue on Monday.

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