“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” -Matthew 5:6
Blessed. Happy, favored, peaceful. Not in the carnal sense, but through the manifested means of grace and made possible through sanctified pursuits. Blessed are they; in the instructions from the Savior, we can find blessings. It should come as no surprise, that these instructions are radically different from the world.
Mankind has an appetite for all kinds of things. Fame, money, and power seem to take the limelight, but lingering in the background acceptance, companionship, security and comfort are not far off. What we hunger for, what we thirst for manifests itself in a multitude of ways, especially in the early years of life. However, as life progresses, and the energies of youth are slowly stripped away the true appetites are illuminated. The literal things seem to matter so much less and the intangibles much more. Love, happiness, peace; the marrow of life, is given a deeper consideration. These are drawn out of us as the rest is stripped away by time itself. In this there is wisdom to those who would be wise. For all of us, young and old, can glean from the fact that Blessedness is not found in the tangible, but the intangible. Yes, we can spend our lives fulfilling the “desires of the mind,” eating and drinking “for tomorrow we die.” But what blessedness comes from that? A hall of memories, and all too often, a host of sins. Jesus says: Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. What of a man that will have an appetite for righteousness? They who hunger for holiness, and purity that only God can offer. This person will be filled. In comparison to this pursuit of righteousness, what are the things of this world but unworthy aims? The trade we labor in and the profit we gain from it. The education we get and try to give. Even wholesome fellowship and charity. Should we ignore them? No, certainly not (so says scripture); but the heart’s desire, the chief aim, and the inward most drive is for righteousness. As a starving man to a banquet or a parched traveler to a well; the lack is the motive as much as the obtaining is. In righteousness we can gorge ourselves and cry out to God: "more, more, more!" We may drink freely from this well and have it fill our lives. For in it we find Jesus only and Jesus ever. Blessed is the man that hungers and thirst for they shall be filled. When you seek Christ and forsake sin, you seek righteousness. If you seek after Him, he will fill you. When he does all the old appetites will turn to ash. The feast of the world will turn to fodder. As time marches on, you find that righteousness is not only a sustaining influence in your life, but the sustaining element.
God help us, to embrace the pursuit and filling. Hunger and thirst after righteousness. What can there be amongst us that will unify us but this? To the sinner in open rebellion, may the Lord help you to see that holiness is sweeter. To the converted, wrestling with inward sin, let the Word of God ignite a hunger in you to pursue righteousness both within and without. To the sanctified, cleansed from all sin, let us drink deeper and deeper of the righteousness that Christ has to offer and share it with others! We can pour it out, because His storehouses are full. Lord help us all to meet on this ground, in this common endeavor; that we hunger and thirst after righteousness. If we do, and when we do, we will find blessing. So says the scripture.
