Week 4 - HUNGRY HEARTS - Part 2

When you are hungry, what satisfies your hunger? Food, of course. What about thirst ... when you are thirsty, what satisfies your thirst? There's nothing better than water for quenching our thirst, is there? Food and water are not luxuries - they are necessities for life. For most of us living in America, we live in such abundance that we don't even know what it means to experience genuine hunger and thirst. Most of the time when we claim to be "starving," it means only that we're an hour our two past our lunch time.

In Jesus' day, hunger and thirst were everyday problems for multitudes of people. Serious problems. Food and water were used very carefully and never wasted. The owning of a well and cultivating a field were matters of life and death. So - when Jesus linked hunger, thirst, and righteousness, He was telling the people that righteousness is not a luxury - it is a necessity. If believers were to have the abundant - happy - fulfilled life He came to provide, then righteousness would be a necessity in their lives.

Unfortunately, most of the righteousness the people of Jesus' time saw was self-righteousness as demonstrated by the scribes, Pharisees, and religious leaders. Self-righteousness simply means living by your own version of what you think is required of man. The scribes and Pharisees taught a certain code of righteousness based on the law and prided themselves in their ability to adhere to it. Jesus pulled the rug out from under those false standards and laid the shining truth at their feet. In the Sermon on the Mount He dealt repeatedly with their self-righteousness. Glance through the 5th chapter of Matthew and look at how many times/topics Jesus addressed by saying: "you have heard it said ... but I say to you."

Jesus did not want them to think that genuine righteousness was based on external acts. He wanted them to understand that godly righteousness is an inner matter of the heart. Godly righteousness begins with a dissatisfaction - a yearning. When sin's presence within us is finally realized, an inner longing is kindled and begins to burn with a slow, steady flame. With every glance of God's shining holiness and purity comes an accompanying awareness of self. Remember Isaiah when he saw the Lord "high and lifted up" (Isaiah 6)? He immediately recognized his own sinfulness and cried "Woe is me ..."

When we finally realize God alone is righteous, we begin to hunger and thirst to be like Him. A hunger and thirst to know His righteousness awakens and grows in our inner being.

Our physical life depends upon food and water. Our spiritual life depends upon righteousness. Have you ever heard the expression, "You are what you eat"? Sure you have. I'm glad it doesn't mean we literally look like what we eat . . . I might look like a Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie! LOL! Of course, what that expression actually means is that the kinds of things we eat affect the overall health and well-being of our bodies. This is also true of our spirit. The outer person (our physical being) depends upon food and water. The inner person - the health and well-being of our spirit - depends upon righteousness.

The inner person of the spirit has appetites and desires that must be satisfied just like the physical body has a physical appetite for food and a desire for water. If your physical body is not given food and water it will become sickly and, eventually, die. If the inner person of the spirit is not given the spiritual food God has provided, then the inner person become sick and weakly.

Does a dead person get hungry or thirsty? NO. If we are not hungering and thirsting for righteousness, I wonder if it might be an indication of spiritual deadness. Unbelievers have an appetite for sin. But believers have hearts that are hungry for God. When we hunger and thirst for righteousness like Jesus talked about in this Beatitude, it is evidence of spiritual life. It's also an evidence of health.

What's usually the first symptom of a serious illness? A loss of appetite. When a sick person's appetite returns, it usually indicates that the person's health is returning.

Are you hungering and thirsting for righteousness today, my sweet sister? The tense of the words Jesus used for hunger and thirst denote continuous action - to keep hungering - to keep thirsting. So - do you?? Do you hunger and thirst for God? Is He the driving passion of your life? If you're not hungering and thirsting for Him, perhaps you could use a check-up with the Great Physician to see if there is some sin sickness that is stealing your appetite for righteousness.

Believers who are spiritually alive and healthy will hunger and thirst for God. His righteousness is a vital necessity - not a luxury. His holiness satisfies the appetites and desires of our spirit. To the Pharisees and many of the Jews of Jesus' day, holiness was conformity to rules; it was an external thing that completely overlooked the inner person. That explains why Jesus warned, "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 5:20

A mere external piety born of pride and nurtured by the praise of others is not holiness. It the beatitudes teach us anything at all, it is that holiness begins in the heart. Holiness involves wholeness. The words holy and whole belong to the same family. Sin divides and destroys, but holiness unites and builds and helps make us whole. Righteousness and holiness are God's intrinsic attributes. They are His very essence. When you hunger for holiness, you are hungering for HIM. To have Him in your life brings wholeness; He puts everthing together.

Holiness satisfies your inner being and causes you to become dissatisfied with sin. The closer we get to the light, the easier it is to see defilement - the stains of sin. The more we are satisfied with God, the more we are dissatisfied with substitutes.

We must grow in our love for holiness. Nothing feeds our spirit and calls us to the pursuit of holiness in our lives like time in the Word.

As we grow in our love for holiness and our personal relationship with God deepens in its intimacy we will have a greater desire to please our Heavenly Father. We seek holiness because we love God and want to glorify Him. The Pharisees loved themselves and sought to glorify themselves and Jesus said they had their reward.

Seeking to please the Father and cultivating a hunger for holiness in our lives will bring about a remarkable change in our lives. It will transform us and cause us to become more like Jesus. Holiness conforms you to Christ and develops your own individuality. The more we become like Christ, the more we are liberated to become our best selves. God created you unique. There is no one exactly like you. He has gifted you uniquely and has unique opportunities for service designed just for you.

What about it, sweet sisters . . .
Is there a hunger for holiness in your heart?
Are you whole in spirit, soul and body because you are centered in Christ?
Is your inner being so satisfied by holiness that the slightest sin grieves your heart?
Do you love holiness and desire to grow in holiness daily?
Are you seeking holiness simply because you love God and want to glorify Him?
Are you seeking blessing - or the BLESSER?

In the next post we'll talk about seven things you can do to increase your hunger and thirst for righteousness.