Matthew 5:6

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

What do you hunger and thirst for? That new car? That awesome house? More money? To lose weight? The attention of a certain guy or girl? A promotion? Recognition? Our appetites tell us a lot about what’s going on in our hearts and minds…and if they are not of God, what they promise…they can’t deliver.

The proper understanding of what it means to “hunger and thirst” is not that mild discomfort we feel in-between meals. This type is far more desperate. J. N. Darby, one of the founders and early leaders of the Plymouth Brethren, expresses the same thought when he says: “To be hungry is not enough; I must be really starving to know what is in His heart towards me. When the prodigal son was hungry he went to feed upon husks, but when he was starving he turned to his father.” Do any of us ever hunger and thirst that way for the things of God…for holiness? If those pangs don’t exist in you at all, you may need to ask yourself, “Am I truly born again?”

Finally, as we hunger and thirst for the things of God, we will be satisfied by the Lord Himself. Is He not the Bread of Life? Is He not the Fountain of Living Water? The word “satisfied” comes from the Greek word “chortazo”, and it is the kind of filling that an animal experiences when it is allowed to stay at the trough until it wants nothing more. Wouldn’t it be nice to get to the point in our lives where we no longer hunger and thirst for the garbage that the world offers us, but rather, are fully satisfied in Christ? Then let us turn our affections towards Him…towards Righteousness!