Blessed

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”  Matt. 5:6  

That’s the verse that our church is learning for the year and while it is short, it is chocked full of nuggets.  We’ve all heard it many times as part of the Beatitudes.  A simple verse, but what does it mean?

Blessed—Good feelings?  Being favored?  Fortunate?  In the Beatitudes, it is “happy.”  Those could be anybody.  We’ll see about that in a minute.

Hunger and thirst imply being driven by a need for survival.  Haven’t we all experienced hunger and thirst for physical needs?  If we don’t get food or water, what will happen to our bodies?  Our stomachs growl when it’s time to eat and we’re not feeding the need.  How long can we actually live without them?  With food, it can be up to two months, assuming there is some type of liquid nourishment.  Nutrition for the body to function comes from food.  Without the vitamins and minerals, organs don’t work properly.  Water is even more important, and the body will completely shut down after about three days.

Hmmm….Jesus said He was the bread of life, and He is the source of living water…seems like we need Him!

Righteousness is one of the chief attributes of God.  It is being morally RIGHT.  There is nothing we can do to make ourselves righteous, but we can certainly conduct ourselves in a righteous manner, the way that Jesus would.  Back to those--Who would want righteousness, to conduct themselves as Jesus would, other than the believer?  Those is a specific group of people, certainly not everyone.  Satisfied could mean “not needing anything more,” or “totally content.”

Now let’s rephrase that verse as we’ve broken it down.

“Happy are the believers who know that they cannot survive without continually feeding on the word of God and emulating Jesus in such a way that it changes their life, for they will need nothing more.”

Yeah, I’d say that pretty much sums it up.  LEARNING the verse is the easy part, putting it into practice is not.  It takes a commitment of time.  It’s something we’re willing to do because we absolutely love the Lord first, and we want to experience all that He has for us. 

May we ALL hunger and thirst for righteousness, and be satisfied!