FREEDOM
- David Redding
- 6 days ago
- 1 min read
The pure heart regulates itself
Rules are regulations that govern conduct. They are necessary because it is the nature of man to misbehave. While through conscience every sane man knows what he must not do, his sinful nature compels him to do it anyway in satisfaction of selfish desires.
As a result, men need rules to help control them when their desires threaten to override their conscience. Without rules, misconduct would reign and disorder would rule because a man’s desires know no bounds.
Unless he has purified his heart.
A pure-hearted man is free from the shackles of his sinful nature. Unencumbered by the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that come from selfish desire, he does not wage a daily battle with his conscience or need rules (and their attendant consequences for breaking them) to restraint to his conduct.
Such a man is free to live his life in full without the worry that comes from not trusting oneself. He is free because the pure heart regulates itself.
Beautifully written, as usual! I think good people might have different definitions of what it means to be pure-hearted, but it's certainly a noble goal. I don't know if any human is capable of completely unshackling from selfish desire, though. Do you? Wouldn't that be the same as being without sin? From my perspective, I don't feel that rules constrain my actions in any meaningful way. My conscience does that. If I break the rules of man (let's say: speeding), it's because I've calculated that my own moral guidelines (that allow me to speed without becoming dangerous) supersede the limitations of the law in that context. I'm comfortable dealing with the consequence of that decision if it comes to that,…