Bless those who hunger and thirst for righteousness

The fourth Beatitude is “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” The word righteousness here is “acting in accord to a moral or divine law.”  Essentially this is following God’s perfect law.  Therefore, looking at this blessing it is showcasing that people are blessed if they are striving in every way that they can to follow God’s law and abide by his commandments.   If that is sounding like a daunting and impossible task, don’t worry, my hope through this blog post is to encourage anyone to hunger and thirst for righteousness for God’s glory without the impossible feeling hanging over anyone’s head.  

It is impossible for us humans to completely follow God’s law.  We can never fully be righteous in God’s eyes on our own.  Every single person has sinned and therefore can not be completely made clean or whole on our own after the fact.  That is why it is so important that we have Jesus who chose to die on the cross for our sins, so that through his blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ we have a chance to become righteous.  Therefore, this righteousness does take a bit of a different role for us.  We need to hunger and thirst for Jesus Christ.  While we should still try to abide by God’s law as much as we can, it is important to always realize that we can not achieve righteousness on our own freewill.  

The second part of this Beatitude or the “reward”reminds us that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled.  They will feel completed and whole.  They won’t feel the need to be filled with the things of this world like fancy clothes and shoes, the bigger house, and even a significant other.  They will instead be filled with the Holy Spirit and the joy of Jesus Christ and therefore will have great satisfaction and feeling filled.  Not to say that it will always feel easy, but one who sets their thoughts and mind on Christ, will find a way to fight through the dissatisfaction that may come from the worldly temptations and desires.  

There are many times in our lives where we as people desire so many things.  We may desire a bigger house, a significant other, a better job, a promotion, a luxury vacation, etc.  Whatever it is, there are many pieces and items in the world that serve as desires to want more and more.  I am guilty of this in many ways.  Even from something as simple as always, without fail, wanting more and more jewelry and clothes.  I own so much jewelry and such a big wardrobe, yet that is always what I want more of in regards to Christmas or birthday presents.  Is that inherently a bad thing, no, but even that can serve as a deep desire of something I am constantly seeking that is in many ways worldly and will not make it beyond the grave.  I also desire to be thinner.  I have written before in these blogs about how much I love to exercise, and I love feeling as though I am losing weight.  Again, this isn’t necessarily evil, but it does start to become something I desire to have or focus more on than Jesus Christ.  

This Beatitude reminds us that we need to focus more on Jesus and focus less on the expendable, depleting, unimportant things of this world.  This also can be an easier way to avoid getting frustrated with the things of this world that are really at the end of the day, not important.  I know that I have often gotten really angry at the “stuff” that we have in this world.   I have definitely thrown a temper tantrum when I have lost or broke a piece of jewelry, when my cell phone or my computer internet doesn’t work, and even messes that are created from cooking supper in my kitchen. 

I was recently reading a devotional book named, “Unglued,” by Lysa Terkuest.  This book discussed all the ways that we can have raw unwanted emotions that then can be turned into quick unglued outburst reactions.  There was a chapter all about getting wrapped up in the world that we often start to become unglued at those little things.  Lysa Terkeurst, the author, discussed how her children got angry over placemats at restaurants, and that she would never understand why they would get so upset over something so small.  However, she realized that in moments, there are times we can also get mad about things that really are just as small.  “That was the strange moment I thought of those stupid placemats–the ones the kids fought over.  And my anger burned.  Not at my kids, but at myself and all the dumb things I can get bent out of shape about.” If we instead change our focus to the glorious things of heaven as opposed to the mediocre, and replaceable things of this world, it may be a lot easier to be a person who hungers and thirsts for righteousness.  

This world will not last forever.  If the year of 2020 has taught us anything, it has shown that the things of this world are not permanent and are fleeting.  Sadly, this can even be family or friends.  Does this mean that the things and the people in the world don’t matter.  Not completely, but when they take the precedent over the Lord and the things above.  This also includes how we choose to act.  We should not get caught trying to act like everyone in the world, but that we really take the time to focus our energy on how to act and respond in a way that is Christ-like.  That is what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness.  This is to hunger and thirst to act as close to God as one can, not because they want to feel the pride of being a good person but because they want to feel closer to the Lord.  This is to have a desire to get to the world above and beyond this one.  Only once you start to focus on the bigger picture and the things above, will a person truly feel filled.