LEARNING DAILY

 

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

 

I have written this before; I want to write it again because Matthew 5:6 is so important to walking and staying on the narrow way to eternal life in God’s kingdom. That is the entire theme of LEARNING DAILY and I pray this describes each person who reads this blog. It is my opinion that each person who has declared their faith in Jesus Christ should have a “hunger and thirst for His righteousness”! I cannot help but believe as we move forward in 2023, it is essential for each of to have a greater “hunger and thirst for His righteousness”!

 

I believe this verse to be a foundational requirement for living on the narrow way as God demands us to live. I know that is a strong statement; living our lives as Christians depends on our hunger and thirst for God’s presence, being in His Word, how we live our lives, and the power we have to serve Him. I do not want to be judgmental, but I wonder how many people leave a church service to do what they want when they have left. The preaching is done, and it was good, but the people are not hearing.

 

What causes this to happen? The hunger for the things of God are destroyed by worldly anxiety, the desire for things and wealth, busyness, and the pursuit of worldly pleasures. When those things take the place of our pursuit of God, there is failure to abide in Him. Be careful because this leads to spiritual dryness and spiritual death.

 

There must not be any misunderstanding. This righteousness we have is based on our response to the grace Jesus Christ offers us through His death and resurrection; there is nothing any of us can do to earn this righteousness! The righteousness this verse is talking about is based on what God’s Word says makes us right in His eyes. This righteousness is based on God’s character and is the standard He measures each of us by. It is measured by our interaction with others on both a personal and a business level. We interact with others in a way that represents God as we live our lives in the way He desires; we allow the light of Jesus in us to shine in a way that others know there is something different in us.

 

 Here is the “bad news” – you and I cannot meet this standard on our own. It is too high for us. It only comes through the cleansing of Jesus Christ in our lives. Yes, we only need to accept Jesus Christ once but the continual need for forgiveness is a daily need. We are made righteous because He was hung on a cross as a sinner that we might be made righteous.

 

This desire is not for more of our own righteousness! It is the desire to have more of the righteousness of Christ. It is the desire to be more like Him in thought and deed. It comes from reading and studying of God’s Word, and then doing what we can to make it part of our lives. It is making sure we repent and ask for forgiveness when we fail. When one hungers and thirsts for this righteousness, Jesus said that person would be filled. The filling comes as one desires to be filled.

Here is the question each of us must answer: what is your desire regarding Christ’s righteousness? Only you can answer that question. That is pretty direct, isn’t it! Yet, it seems to me it is something each of us needs to consider as we face the evil days we live in.

 

My prayer for each of you and myself is that each of us have a greater hunger and thirst for righteousness as we walk the narrow way to eternity in God’s kingdom.