Devotion #4 – Matthew 5:6

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” The pursuit of happiness is a concept that virtually every man can relate to. The choices we make and actions we take all seem to revolve around a purpose that life is meant to drive a man to seek happiness as his ultimate goal. Yet we find in our culture for example that personal debt is rampant, roughly half of all marriages (Christian and non-Christian) end in divorce, and post-modernistic thinking is monopolizing our culture and the church. Where have we lost our compass? Perhaps Matthew 5:6 gives us a glimpse into our dilemma. D. Martyn Lloyd Jones states, “The world is seeking for happiness. That is the meaning of its pleasure mania, that is the meaning of everything men and women do, not only in their work but still more in their pleasures. They are trying to find happiness, they are making it their goal, their one objective. But they do not find it because, whenever you put happiness before righteousness, you will be doomed to misery.” It is vital that we understand this distinction because while there is nothing inherently wrong with happiness, it must be a by-product that comes from a pursuit of righteousness first and foremost. Righteousness itself is simply a desire to be one with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, through a pursuit and application of God’s absolute truth, for “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Therefore if we desire to know God, we must begin by immersing our hearts and minds in truth, allowing change to break forth from the inside out. Within that crucible of truth, sin is magnified and we begin to understand how our thoughts and actions directly affect our relationship with God. Conversely, we also witness the power of grace and mercy found in the ultimate sacrifice of Christ that propels a Christian to pursue righteousness out of obedience in thanksgiving for the saving power of Christ in his life. Yet do we truly understand what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness? A simple question to ask ourselves is, “What affect would it have on me to fast for a day without food or drink?” Consider a few days and then perhaps a week. Would you be able to perform your daily duties as a husband, father, employee or friend like you do currently? Could you even fathom going a day without anything to eat or drink? So what makes any of us think that we can live righteously without proper nutrition from the Word of God on a daily basis? It simply does not make any sense, yet we predominately live in this state oblivious to the fact that we are literally starving for intimacy with God which is our only source of life. Jesus admonishes, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35), therefore “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:2-3). Charles Spurgeon summarizes it this way: “There is nothing in the world that is more real than hunger and thirst, and the truly blessed man has such a real passion, desire, and craving after righteousness that it can only be, likened to hunger and thirst. He must have his sins pardoned, he must be clothed in the righteousness of Christ, he must be sanctified; and he feels that it will break his heart if he cannot get rid of sin. He pines, he longs, he prays to be made holy; he cannot be, satisfied without this righteousness, and his hungering and thirsting for it is a very real thing.” Intimacy with God is consistent, purposeful and genuine, and you cannot attain happiness without seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness—only then will it be added unto you (Matthew 6:33). Therefore to reach a point of satisfaction in your life, which is promised to the man who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, you must cast aside happiness as your goal in life and pursue true, intimate communion with Jesus Christ. The world (and even the church) is full of unhappy people with a tainted perspective on God’s economy, to which you must respond accordingly by embracing a desire to be free from the power of sin and self-idolatry in all its manifestations and forms, from which only the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse. Our need is desperate, like a man wandering aimlessly in the desert without food or water, yet Jesus promises that if we pursue Him, He will meet our needs. And in the end, that is nothing but a longing and desire to be like the Lord Jesus Christ Himself which is our ultimate satisfaction this side of Heaven.