“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” Matt. 5:6 (ESV). God is pleased when we hunger and thirst for righteousness. This isn’t just judicial righteousness that we receive when we first believe; it is also lived righteousness, that is, living a godly life, a life that is truly good. And this is something that Jesus wants us to passionately pursue, that we would actually be hungry to be good. Our throats would be parched and dry because we do not have the full spring of God’s righteousness. This means that we zealously pursue honesty in all we say and do. It means we love holiness and seek to be pure in every area of our lives, including what we watch. It means we crucify pride, embrace humility and plead with God to expose our pride. This is what it means to thirst for righteousness.
And the encouragement is that if we thirst for righteousness, then God will satisfy us; he will wine and dine us with his goodness so that we do live righteous lives. Jesus said “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37 ESV). He will do this both in this age and in the age to come when we will be completely satisfied with His righteousness. So all the effort we make to imitate Jesus’ righteousness, all the sacrifices we make to seek his grace, all the time we spend absorbing his teachings and all the effort we put into keeping our focus on Christ is all worth it. And righteousness is more valuable than all the treasure, success, and status on earth.
How much do you thirst for righteousness? How can you be more thirsty? What keeps you from having a powerful thirst for righteousness?
