Blessed are Those Who Hunger and Thirst…

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.  Matthew 5:6

To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to imply that we do not yet have righteousness to a satisfactory measure, or else why would we hunger and thirst for it? For those of us who know that we are sinners saved by grace, there is the desire for more righteousness because we understand how far we fall short of God's standard. Even the most righteous of us have no reason for pride because all of our good works falls miserable short of God's standard. In Philippians 3:1-14 the Apostle Paul tells us that of all the things he could take pride in none of them are of any value to him, including his personal righteousness. Paul is not telling us that personal righteousness is of no value; rather he is telling us that personal righteousness is nothing to be in the least bit proud about. We live the Christian life because we are saved by grace; we are saved because we live the Christian life. When we get angry for the wrong reason we are a murderer, when we eat one half teaspoonful more food than God meant for us to we are a gluten, when we half a half second of sexual thought toward someone who is not our spouse we are an adulterer and on and on.  It is much like the Olympic long jumper who takes pride in being able to jump a farther distance than anyone in the world, but finds out that the minimum qualifying distance to jump is from New York to San Francisco. It does not matter how much farther he can jump than others, he will still fail to meet the standard. God's standard of righteousness is so far beyond our best attempt that we should not be proud, but grateful that God through Jesus has made up the difference.

When we become aware of how horribly we fall short of the righteousness of God then, if we seek to be righteous, we hunger and thirst for righteousness. The promise to the members of the kingdom of God is that we will be filled. We are not filled by growing in righteousness to meet God's standard, but we are filled because as we grow in faith God credits our faith to us as righteousness. God feels the members of the kingdom with his righteousness though grace.

Next Week: Blessed are the Merciful...