A Hunger and a Thirst for Righteousness

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Mt 5:6

The combination of preparing a study on prayer, reading the sermon on the plain (Luke 6), and hearing the first sermon in a series on the sermon on the mount (Mt 5-7), has resulted in me reflecting on the most challenging of the beatitudes for me: Mt 5:6. While all of the beatitudes present their own challenges, and, in the spirit of the entire sermon on the mount, they leave us in desperate need of Christ, the 4th beatitude presses and probes me in a way the others don't.

Hunger and thirst seem to be such common traits. We don't do anything to become hungry or thirsty. Instead, they are both reactions to something lacking in our bodies, namely food and water. But how does this translate to a hunger and a thirst for righteousness? Where is the pang, where is the parchednees, where is the desperate, ravenous need to satisfy our hunger and our thirst righteousness? Why are we so easily contented for something less than a Christ-exalting righteousness? The cool thing, of course, is that as the Spirit increases our hunger and our thirst for righteousness, we will be satisfied.

To God Alone be the Glory