SCRIPTURE
Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
DEVOTION
A little while ago, I experienced what it was like to not feel hunger at all. It was the strangest experience. It wasn’t that I was hungry, had eaten, and no longer felt hungry.
I had been sick, and so I simply felt no hunger at all. Even though I wanted to eat, my brain did not recognise the hunger. Then when I did eat, I didn’t feel satisfied at all.
I knew that something was off, and so I prayed for the hunger to return. When I did, it came back in full force! I was so famished that I was desperate to be filled! It was as if my body could not rest until I had been filled, and then the satisfaction that came after eating felt like pure bliss.
This got me thinking about today’s passage in Matthew 5:6 which is part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: ‘“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”’
Jesus’ sermon lays out an important message for us about how we are meant to live in our daily lives when Jesus is truly our Lord and when we are truly His disciples.
It is from this context that Jesus speaks to His disciples about being people who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Jesus was speaking to people who truly knew the reality of hunger and thirst – it was very common for them. Jesus tells them that they were to hunger and thirst for righteousness just as they experienced hunger and thirst in their daily lives.
They were to have a passion (a hunger) which was real, natural and intense, just as hunger and thirst are real, natural and intense. They were also to have a passion which may be painful, and which would be a driving force, just as hunger and thirst are painful and are a driving force.
So too are we to have this kind of passion!
But what does it mean to have this kind of passion for righteousness?
We see many people today, including Christians, who have great passion for other things (myself included). We hunger and thirst for power, relationships, authority, money, success, fame, comfort and happiness.
But we are meant to hunger and thirst for righteousness. This means that we are to desire to have a righteous nature. We are to seek to look more like Jesus, and to be transformed and sanctified daily. We are to have a passion to see God’s righteousness promoted in this world.
We are supposed to do these things, but I can honestly say that this is a challenge for me. Do I hunger and thirst for righteousness? Do I long to see God’s righteousness established in the world?
We may not always long for this, but this is what our Lord Jesus has called us to do as His disciples. Wherever we are right now in terms of hungering and thirsting after righteousness, this is our starting point. From today onwards, may we seek to be disciples of Jesus who increase in our hunger and thirst for righteousness both in us and in the world!
Jesus promises that when we are people who live like this, that He will satisfy us. He will fill us, and that sensation of being filled will be utter bliss!
If you want a greater hunger and thirst for the things of God, why not drop a prayer request into the Interseed app. Ask your friends on there to pray that the Lord would increase your hunger for Him!
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
In what way would you like your hunger and thirst for righteousness to increase?
- I want to have a righteous nature.
- I want to look more like Jesus, and to be transformed and sanctified daily.
- I want to have a passion to see God’s righteousness promoted in this world.
- OTHER
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your Word and for the ways in which it teaches me how to be Your disciple.
Lord, I long for a greater hunger and thirst – a greater passion – for righteousness! I earnestly pray that You would increase my passion to see this in myself and in the world.
Please teach me how to hunger and to thirst after You like never before.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
PRAYER POINTERS
Pray for a greater hunger and thirst for the things of God for the people in your church. We can always long for more of God!
