"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."
To put it simply, to live righteously is to live a life that is in line with what God requires of us. What does it mean to "hunger and thirst after righteousness"? It means to desire to live as God wants us to live in spite of all of the temptations around us. We know what hunger and thirst is, because we experience both every day of our lives. As children of God, we need to be careful what we hunger and thirst after. The world gives us a lot to satisfy our appetites. John pointed this out in 1 John 1:16: "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." We need to ask ourselves what we have the greatest appetite for, what the world offers or what God offers? Understand, though, that it is not our righteousness that we hunger and thirst after, rather, it is the righteousness that is given to us by God. This righteousness is not only concerned with what we do not do, but with what we do as well. We have not done enough when we stop doing wrong things, we must also hunger and thirst to do right things. How can we live this kind of life in the midst of all of the temptations that we face? Well, there is a promise here that if we hunger and thirst after righteousness, we will be filled. Filled with what? We will be filled with the Holy Spirit, Who will help us to not do the things that we should not do and to do the things that we should do. Jesus promised that when He ascended to the Father, He would send the Holy Spirit to indwell and fill His people. What will He fill us with? Galatians 5:22-24 tells us: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23. Meekness temperance (self-control): against such there is no law." When we hunger and thirst after God's righteousness, His Spirit fills us with the things listed above. We are not living righteously if we are not filled with His love, His joy, His peace, etc. Is this the kind of life that we hunger and thirst after? This righteousness will not only make us better Christians, it will make us better human beings! Our aim should not be to be self-righteous, but to be filled with God's righteousness as spelled out in Galatians 5:22-24. Consider what you are filled with and then you will know whether you are truly "hungering and thirsting after righteousness." Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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