LEARNING DAILY

 

Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”   Jesus

 

This beatitude is one of the most important verses in the entire Sermon on the Mount.  It has to be the foundational requirement for all godly living.  To hunger and thirst for righteousness is the natural result of recognizing we are not spiritually sufficient (poor in spirit), from grieving over our own inability to meet God’s standards for righteousness (mournful) and from being humble and submissive before God (meek). 

 

 Righteousness is the desire to be from sin and all of its forms.  The Bible is clear that sin separates us from God.  The first three beatitudes show us the need to be right with God.  Once this need is realized, the next step is to begin to search, to “hunger and thirst” for what will free us from sin and bring us back into the relationship we were created to have with God.  Lloyd-Jones states, “People who hunger and thirst for righteousness are happy people.” 

 

The spiritual lives of Christians depend on their hunger and thirst for righteousness! When we are physically hungry, that need continues until we eat and are satisfied.  It is with through spiritual hunger we come to know God, to be in fellowship with Him, and to grow up to be like Christ.  Lloyd-Jones points out something for all of to understand.  When we believed the Lord Jesus Christ died on a cross to remove your sins, confessed your sins, were forgiven, we were filled with His righteousness away; God looked at and saw the righteousness of Christ and He no longer saw our sin.  But righteousness is a continuing process as sin is still in the world.  It is always around, always trying to lure us back into its trap.  Sometimes we fail and need to ask for forgiveness for the failure.  We must have a hunger and thirst for righteousness, to live closely to the Lord every day!  It is the power of Christ in us and the power of the Holy Spirit living within us that will enable us to resist Satan causing Him to flee. In this beatitude we begin to move away from self and turn to be more like God. That will be explained in the coming Beatitudes.

 

The Christian’s hunger for things of God can be destroyed by worldly anxiety (such as election results), deceitfulness of wealth, desire for things and life’s pleasures and the failure to abide in Christ.  When the Believer’s hunger for God and His righteousness is destroyed, they will die spiritually.  For this reason, it is essential that we be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s convicting work in our lives.  When any of these things become part of our lives, He will direct us back to that hunger for the things of God.

 

Do you have a hunger and thirst for righteousness?  If so, you will be filled!  That is the whole gospel!  It is the gift God gives you when you know the need and desire it and search for it.  You cannot fill yourself with righteousness.   God fills you!  You know that you have been forgiven of past, present, and future sins and are covered by the righteousness of Christ.  No more hoping for peace with God; He has given it to you.

 

Lloyd-Jones asks these questions to help us examine our lives.  Are you enjoying your Christian life and experience?  Do you know your sins are forgiven?  Are you enjoying peace with God?  Do you rejoice in the Lord always?    He writes that as a Christian we should be able to say “yes” to each one.

 

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”  

 

I pray each day that my wife, daughters, sons-in-laws, grandchildren and family living up north will have a desire and hunger and thirst for righteousness.  Each day is new with its own set of challenges.  Might greatest desire is to see them grow to love the Lord and draw closer to Him today than yesterday. 

 

It is only as you seek righteousness with your entire being that you can discover it!

 

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