Thursday, September 23, 2010
A Hunger for Righteousness
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled."
—Matthew 5:6
Have you ever been really hungry? My stomach is like a clock. By 10:00 a.m., I am hungry for lunch. By 11:00, I know we are closing in. At 11:30, I am thinking that we will hopefully be eating any time now. And at 12:01, I will say to my wife, "I am starving to death." In reality, I am not starving to death at all. But I am hungry. Thanksgiving is an even greater challenge. After all the preparation, when it is finally time to sit down and eat, I am really hungry.
Are you hungry for God? Are you thirsty for spiritual things? Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6). A happy person passionately desires a righteous life. It is a thirst for God himself. That is what the psalmist was describing when he said, "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God (Psalm 42:1).
Our hunger for God could be determined by the way we see spiritual things. As you get ready for work, school, or whatever it is you are planning to do, will you make time for the Word of God? Do you hunger for what God has to say to you as you start your day? How about prayer? Is that something you make time for as well?
Happy people are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They want to be right with God. They want to walk with God. They long for these things. That is where happiness will come from—not from the things of this world.
Do you starve for a holy life? Do you hunger for God's best for you? If you do, then you will take practical steps to get it.
Copyright © 2010 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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