“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.”
- Matthew 5:6
Remember the last time you were genuinely hungry? Like your body was weak, the stomach was throbbing, and all that mattered was to get food in your mouth. So hungry to the point that simply a bite of anything would cease the hunger pains. Or maybe even the last time you were incredibly thirsty? Your mouth was parched or, the disgusting lactic acid build up in your mouth from an intense workout leaving you with the awful taste of rotten milk. Your body may have been overheating, and all you wanted was a bottle to satisfy you. Can you remember one of those times?
There was this one time I was incredibly thirsty for anything. I was in Israel with a bunch of fellow college students, and that morning we were in a remote area by the Dead Sea called Masada. There were only two ways to go down the mesa we were on. First was a cable car, which leads to an air-conditioned rest area. The other way down was down the “snake trail,” which twisted and turned all the way down, and the temperature was above 100 degrees to begin with and increased as you went down. Obviously, I chose the snake trail; I was not about to miss out on that! However, after nearly an hour of being coated in my own sweat and running out of water, I wanted nothing more for the air conditioning and cold water. On the brink of bursting into flames, I made into the rest area and bought a nice cold Coke, and nothing was more satisfying than to get those first sips from the bottle! I was filled until we later took a dip in the Dead Sea, and I got salt on my lips…
Anyways, by now, you have pictured and remember the feelings of hunger and thirst. In those times, your only mission is to pursue food and to be quenched by the sweet release of water. Some of us even become irritable people when we are hungry. You have such a yearning for satisfaction that you will stop at nothing.
Yearning for Satisfaction:
Often, we are led more in our pursuits to be satisfied in life than anything else. All around us, we view advertisements that are telling us what we could have to be happy. McDonald’s helps you love it, Jimmy John’s is freaky fast, and Amazon delivers with a smile on the box. Whether we want quality, efficiency, or enjoyment, the possibilities of satisfaction seem endless. We do not have to go very far or try very hard in order to find something that can “satisfy” us.
Here is the issue though, nothing, absolutely nothing can satisfy you forever, at least nothing you can purchase. You will have to continually buy any food in order to end your craving. Your new pair of shoes will eventually wear out. Your new car depreciates instantly. You realize your paycheck gets divided up amongst various costs in life. Or to go to more harmful practices, you will always need more of the drug to keep the high, more alcohol to numb the pain, or more porn to release yourself.
In our materialistic and self-centered nation, we can come to realize we will always need more, and our pursuit of satisfaction is fleeting. Often it even acts as a distraction from our time with God and our service to Him.
Yearning for Righteousness:
Christ teaches us a different thing to yearn for. For we cannot get rid of the ability to yearn, we always will yearn, we always will hunger, we always will thirst. The problem is not that we yearn but what we yearn for. Christ presents and offers to us an alternative… Righteousness, or as some translations say, Justice. Now, this is not to say Jesus is calling everyone to yearn for social justice; there are other teachings more beneficial for the calling to societal transformation.
Righteousness may be best understood as a state of being, that is one who regularly does what is right and good for God and for others. I say a state of being because, throughout the scriptures, God declares who is truly righteous and who is not. Righteousness is regularly connected to action; all of such actions are not possible out of sin, though, but out of a genuinely good heart and intent.
When we are stuck in sin or searching for others to see us as righteous, we are seeking to be satisfied temporarily. However, when we are surrendered to God, yearning for Him and His Will and ways, that leads to righteousness, for God is the only one who can determine if we are righteous. This does not mean we just haphazardly stumble into being righteous, or attempt to muster up enough faith. This is yearning; it is trying diligently to find righteousness over every other kind of satisfaction. Righteousness finds its satisfaction in God and the blessings of relationship with Him.
The beautiful thing about this verse is its attainability. Frequently Jesus refers to Himself as the bread of life or the living water, and I do not believe these are just isolated parabolic messages rather describes exactly who fills us! Not to mention He sends the Holy Spirit to fill us and be our guides in the Christian life. Yet, do we really yearn for righteousness?
Do we want to be righteous? Do you want to be righteous?
Sometimes I wonder if we really yearn for it since often we can give way to our desire for satisfaction. This is not a works way to salvation by any means, but for us in faith, do we really believe we can live a sinless and righteous life? Our yearning might be an indicator, thanks be to the Holy Spirit who patiently waits on us to yearn for God. I believe the very desire of Jesus in this verse is for His disciples to pursue and strive for Righteousness in Him.
Final Blessing:
I believe it is 100% possible to be righteous, even in our morally ambiguous nation. For it is not our nation and our advertisers who determine what is righteous or not, and neither is it up to your parents or pastor. God ALONE determines the righteous and every action that corresponds. May the Spirit stir within you and I a passion and yearning for Righteousness, that comes from God. I wonder what it would look like to push toward a more righteous way of life this week.
May the Lord of life and redemption be with you in every step, every breath, and every heartbeat. Be messengers of the Good News and Peace friends!
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