The Secret to Being a Successful Pastor: A 5-Day Challenge by Andrew HébertSample

DAY 3

Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). Hungering and thirsting for the righteousness that comes from God is longing for God himself. It’s a desire to see God fill your life with what you don’t have without his presence. It’s a craving for the kind of life only God can produce in you. God will bless the hungry pastor.

Jesus says we must hunger and thirst after the righteousness that we don’t have (vs. 2), but desperately need (vs. 20). It’s at this very point, the point of hungering spiritually for a righteousness that we cannot produce on our own, but without which we won’t enter the kingdom, that the second half of this beatitude becomes critical. It’s a promise. Jesus says, “If you’re hungry for it, you will be filled with it.” You will be filled. This is a promise. Jesus promises to give us what we need, if we simply long for it.

Matthew 5:6 is the essence of the gospel: You need righteousness that you don’t have, but if you want it, you can have it, if you will find it in Jesus. He will do for you what you cannot do for yourself. He will provide you with what you can never have on your own. In short: Jesus will satisfy the deepest longings of your heart.

In Matthew 5:7, Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” If you are called to be a pastor, you are called to a ministry of mercy. God calls us to empathy, compassion, and kindness. He calls us to sympathy toward sinners. There’s transformative power in such a ministry. If we want to embrace the character of Christ, we will always be on the look-out for opportunities to sympathize with and care for sinners.

Impurity in the life of a pastor, or any follower of Christ for that matter, will cause ruin. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). Purity is important in the life of every believer, but especially so in the life of a pastor. But purity in our lives is impossible on our own. How can we become pure in heart and receive the blessing of seeing God?

There is only one person who ever had clean hands and a pure heart—Jesus. There is only one person who ever merited acceptance into God’s presence—Jesus. We are not accepted into the presence of God on the basis of our own merit, but on Christ’s. The New Living Translation makes this clear in its translation of Romans 3:22, “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.”

The hope of our justification is Christ alone.