Matthew 5:6. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
What does it mean to hunger and thirst after righteousness? To hunger and thirst after righteousness is to have a starving spirit. It is real hunger and starvation of soul. It is a parched and dying thirst. It is a starving spirit and a parched soul that craves after righteousness. But there is something more: righteousness means all righteousness. The true believer is starved and parched for all righteousness. It means a hunger and a thirst for the whole thing; for all righteousness, not for little tidbits. This is significant, it means that the promise of a filled life is conditional. A person must starve and thirst for all righteousness if he wishes to be filled with the fullness of life.
You may ask, who is blessed? The person who hungers and thirst to be righteous and to do righteousness. To do righteousness is not enough. To be righteous is not enough. Both are essential in order to blessed.
Just a thought – many want just bits and pieces of righteousness-just enough to make them comfortable. There are those who stress being righteous and neglect doing righteousness. The problem with this stress is that it is a false righteousness. Righteousness in the bible means being righteous and doing righteousness. The bible knows nothing about being righteous without living righteously.
What is righteousness? Righteousness means two simple, but profound things; it has a double meaning. It means to be right and to do right. God takes a person’s hunger and thirst after righteousness and counts it as righteousness. The person is not righteous, but God counts him righteous. This is the great love of God. A man hungers and thirst after righteousness; therefore, God fills him.
Righteousness is explained throughout scripture in the word faith. Faith is believing God and trusting the goodness of God to take our faith and count it as righteousness. Hebrews 11:6 says it clearly: “But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him”
Much Love,
Because He Is – I am
Presider
P.S. Looking forward to seeing you at the Congress in Buffalo, NY
