Devotinal Day 4

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Hunger and thirst...do any of us really comprehend what it means to truly be hungry and thirsty to the end of not knowing how we can fill that need in our lives?

Of course we have been hunger to the fact that when a meal is approaching, our stomach growls for food but true hunger your stomach isn't growling.  True hunger is painful as your whole body aches for the nutrition it needs to survive.  And we have all been parched or maybe even sensed that we are dehydrated, but we also live in a cultural where our doctors have to tell us to drink more water because we've chosen not to.  While there are people who are drinking muddy contaminated water because that is all they can find.

It is hard for us to understand but some of the people Jesus was talking to would have known hunger and thirst.  As Rev. Charmaine Braatvedt states, "In desert communities such as the one Jesus was addressing, hunger means starvation and thirst means a desperate need for water in order to survive."


What Jesus is saying is you are blessed if you are seeking, searching, and in desparate need for righteousness in your life.  Just as those who ache for food and water, you are blessed if you ache for righteousness. 

Braatvedt goes on to state, "Jesus is blessing, those who desire righteousness as a profoundly urgent priority in their lives, as something of vital importance."

We know the vital importance of food and water becuase we know without it we will die.  So we work hard to buy it and we do whatever it takes to make sure we have it near us.  But do we know the vital importance of righteousness?

Well what is righteousness?

As I looked up the Hebrew word for righteousness I discovered different words such as tzedek, tsadiyq, tsedek, even Tzadei-Dalet-Qof.  But all words meant and centered on being just, having integrity, and being on the straight and true path that is outlined by God for us.

It doesn't say righteousness = perfect nor does Jesus even say blessed are the righteousness.  Jesus says blessed are you who seek (hunger/thirst) for righteousness.  Why are those who seek righteousness blessed? 

Because the second half of the statement Jesus tells us that they will be filled. Just as those who seek food and water when they are hungry and thirsty, and find it are filled physically.  Those who seek righteousness, in essence seek God, will be filled spiritually.  So are we seeking righteousness?  Because Jesus didn't say those who hunger and thirst for it might be filled.  No, He says they WILL be filled.  It is a beauitful guarantee by Jesus!  How amazing is that!  But Jesus also doesn't say I'll give you righteousness even if you don't seek.  No, first you hunger and thirst for it and then you will be filled.  Just as Jesus says in Matthew 7:7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

Rev. Braatvedt said one more interesting thing on this topic.  He says, "...it occurred to me that in physical life, hunger is a normal healthy sign. There is nothing abnormal about the drive of hunger. It is the sick who have no appetite, no desire for food.  Just so in our spiritual life.  If a person is sick spiritually speaking, then he will have no appetite for God and the things of God.  But if he is spiritually healthy, he will be hungry and thirsty for God and for the things of God."

And I agree with him to an extent. The healthier I am in my relationship with Christ (aka reading His word on a continually basis and praying/spending time with Him) the  more I hunger for it.  But I would always argue that when we are spiritually sick aka not seeking out righteousness that is when the hunger pains begin.  It is in those pains I remember where I need to go for nutrition and renewal.  As Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17)
And thanks be to God that we can hunger and thirst for righteous but more importantly we can get our fill because Jesus has made a way for us to be connected the one and only God who can truly fill us!  PRAISE THE LORD! 

So may you and I hunger and thirst for righteousness continually throughout our whole life until we become truly new in our home forever, Heaven!




The Message version "You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat."