How Do You Feel Righteousness?
Jesus says in Matthew 5:6: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
When we seek after the right things, good things will happen. Jesus seems to think that righteousness is a laudable thing to seek, and not just seek, but to actually hunger and thirst for it. And Jesus says, hunger and thirst for righteousness, and you will be satisfied.
A few observations on hungering and thirsting for righteousness.
(1) Hungering
When I was in high school, our youth group did a 30-hour fast to raise money for a mission organization. And, up until about a year ago (I’m ashamed to say) I had not fasted longer than that 30-hour fast over twenty years ago. I had periodically done a 24-hour fasting time, but nothing longer. It wasn’t until I fasted for longer that I really began to feel what people who hunger endure. Hunger pains are irritating, but they remind us of how comfortable we are in America, when we satisfy those pangs with the quickest fast food meal we can get our hands onto.
I’m not sure if we, in America, can really feel what Jesus is trying to get us to understand about hungering for righteousness because we just don’t go hungry. Even those in poverty have access to meals in every community I’m aware of. If we equate the type of hungering that Jesus is describing with the occasional hunger pains we feel when our stomach vocally announces its displeasure with us, then we’re not nearly at a point of grasping the necessity of that hungering.
If you really want to begin to fathom the depth of hungering for righteousness, do a 5-7 day fast, where you only drink water. It’s an adjustment, but the hunger pains combine with the craving to simply eat. It just feels weird not to eat. And those hunger pains at about day 5 get very strong.
When you feel the lack of food and the want to simply chew something, you can begin to identify with Jesus’ stress on righteousness. It has to feel like a basic necessity of life, that you can’t live without it. And you will do anything to get it, or achieve it.
(2) Thirsting
On the cross, Jesus says: I thirst. I have tried to imagine that type of thirst. How does it compare to an extended detour through the Sahara? How does it compare to the care given in a Hospice setting where food and water are denied? Does it compare to those last few miles running a marathon?
Casual thirst is something we encounter regularly, but except under extreme circumstances, we have access to the refreshment that a simple glass of water can bring. We know the body can only survive a short number of days without water, so the window for experiencing that deep level of thirst is much easier to comprehend. An increased workout can leave us with the need for provision. An extensive time in the heat reminds us how easily heat stroke can set in if we are not replenished with water.
Deny yourself a couple of glasses of water and that nagging dry mouth or parched throat beg to be relieved. Deny them for a time, and you will begin to feel the situational need for righteousness. The dry desert of our world needs even just a drop of righteousness; it can feel even that small amount.
(3) Being satisfied
We need to be replenished. Righteousness does that. Righteous living not only satisfies us, it satisfies the world when we accomplish it. When we find righteousness, it keeps our bodies and our spirits in balance. It allows the spiritual life to continue. A Christian who longs to have a full spirit of righteousness will feel the contentment it brings, in the same way that even a small amount of food satisfies that deep hunger. When turn our lives into a Sprite commercial and obey our thirst, God provides.
But the key is, that you have to feel it on that deep level. You have to know what it means to be without it, where your senses are heightened to its absence. God says that this type of craving is ok, because your pursuit is to fill yourself with something that is beyond you, an ethereal experience that brings you closer to the Creator, knowing that it is out of His rich supply you are filled and satisfied. And when you are satisfied and relieved, nothing else feels quite like it. It becomes so integral to your spiritual health, that you can’t live without it. You have to feel it, and know what it’s like to not have it.
So, this week, realize that righteousness is one of those cravings we should have, because it reflects the righteous nature of God. When you eat each of the meals you have been blessed with, and you drink the fluids that sustain your health, think of how much it “hurts” when you go long enough without them. And know that God will grant your every need for righteousness. Amen.
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