Blessed are those who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

Matthew 5:6 says “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” At first glance, this seems to be a fairly easy thing to do; all we have to do is want God. Right? While this seems like an easy task, it is much easier said than done. Even though we might have some intentions of hungering and thirsting for righteousness, we tend to be overwhelmed by the desires of both the world and ourselves. The enemy hates it when we pursue after God and he will do anything to lead us away from God. I think it is important to remember though, that Jesus has overcome the enemy and it is His strength through us that allows us to fight off temptation.

To get a better understanding of this beatitude, we should first define what Jesus means by ‘righteousness’ in this verse. Being righteous is having a right-ness in you or having no fault, which is something that no human, by himself, can achieve but we see in Psalm 7:11 that God is a righteous judge. Since man is born evil and there is no good in us, it is by the mercy of God and the sacrifice of Jesus that we are able to slowly grow in righteousness through the work of the spirit. One way to understand righteousness is to look to the last four beatitudes, which are results of the first four beatitudes. Being righteous means being radically pure in heart, showing unending mercy and making peace. So, as we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we are hungering and thirsting to be more right, more pure and more merciful. We want our lives to look more like Christ’s life and less like the life that the world wants us to have.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has put eternity in man’s mind and God has also put a longing in our hearts. We are hungry and thirsty for something but far too often we find ourselves attempting to fill that hunger with worldly desires, which only bring more emptiness. Even though the world leaves us broken and hurting and empty, there is hope because the blessedness attributed to this beatitude says that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. When we seek the Lord and hunger and thirst for Him, we will not be disappointed because He will fill us up and satisfy our hungry souls with the bread of life.

A practical application of this beatitude is to satisfy our hungering and thirsting with the one true thing that can satisfy, Jesus. Just as hunger and thirst are a part of our normal lives, we should be hungry and thirsty for God and that hunger and thirst should bring up passion and desire to follow God and pursue a deeper relationship with Him each day. Just as we eat and drink when we are hungry, fill yourself up with the Word of God daily and strive to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness.