Blessed Are TheySample

Blessed Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

We are not hungry or thirsty when we have food and water in abundance. We feel real hunger and thirst when food and water are lacking–when we don’t have anything to fill us up and satisfy our appetites. Equally, we hunger and thirst for righteousness when righteousness is lacking.

We are following a thread through these verses; we have acknowledged our spiritual poverty, mourned our sin, and in humility, accepted God’s mercy and grace. Through this, we have accepted that we lack something. We have experienced the truth of Paul’s words in Romans 3:10, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” The awareness of this awakens in us a desire, a hunger for righteousness–a yearning to live differently, to turn from the sorrow of sin and to respond to the grace of God by living in a way that honors him.

But we must be careful here! Let’s not fall into the trap of trying to satisfy this hunger for righteousness by our own good works. As soon as we think that we can make ourselves righteous by our own actions and in our own strength, we have lost the poverty of spirit that leads us to depend upon God. In Romans 3, Paul reminds us that “no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law” (v20).

Jesus promises that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled; there is a way for us to be declared righteous in God’s sight. The perfect righteousness of God demonstrated through the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross is given “through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (Romans 3:21-26). Our desire for righteousness is satisfied when we put our faith in Christ because it is through this faith that our sins are forgiven, our sinful nature is crucified with Christ, and we rise again as those “justified freely by his grace” (v24).

Reflect and pray

Are you hungry and thirsty for the righteousness of God?

Thank God for the gift of his righteousness, and ask him to help you live in a way that reflects his righteousness and brings glory to him.