FOR WHAT ARE YOU HUNGRY?
Matthew 5:6

For what are you hungry, right now?  Some of you might say, a McDonald's value meal sure sounds good.  Others might say, a good book to read.  Hey, we all have our hungers, don't we?  And a lot of life is focused upon satisfying those hungers.  Jesus knew that, and in this fourth Beatitude He stated that we should hunger and thirst for righteousness.  Now, what did Jesus mean?

Well, righteousness is a pattern of life in conformity to the will of God.  It is that desire to be like Jesus.  It is a growing experience.  Let me see if the following illustration will help you to understand this concept better.  How does a person learn to read?  You certainly don't give a four-year old a copy of Shakespeare's Hamlet and tell him to read it.  No, the child must first master the alphabet.  Then he advances to reading simple sentences, proceeding to Dr. Suess's Cat in the Hat, then to Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, and finally to Hamlet.  All of this takes time, but it is progress.  This is true in all phases of learning, from math to science, from speaking to athletics. 

So it is with God's will.  Listen to these words from the Apostle Paul:  What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.  I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death (Philippians 3:8-10).  Here is Paul's expression of his hunger and thirst.  He wanted to be just like Christ.  Had he arrived there?  Let us continue listening to his testimony:  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do:  Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).  Paul sees this as a growing, step-by-step process.  We can take encouragement from that.

How intense should be this hunger?  The Greek construction which Jesus uses implies that we should have a hunger for all of righteousness, not just some of it.  Friends, do we want all of God in our lives?  Do we want to know Jesus Christ more than anybody else in the world?  Do we desire to have God's Word become more precious to us than gold or silver?  Do we want this righteousness as much as a starving man wants food or a thirsty man wants water?

I am thankful for the ministry of the Village Schools which provides a tool for those who have a great hunger for the Word of God.  May they be filled with His Word through their studies.

Father, We sing with the song writer, "Fill my cup, Lord, I lift it up, Lord.  Come and quench this thirsting of my soul.  Bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more.  Fill my cup and make me whole."  Father, that is the prayer of our hearts today.  We want to have our hunger for God satisfied.  We shall praise You for satisfying this hunger and thirst.  Amen. 

 

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