“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Matthew 5:6
The Lord speaks about hungering and being satisfied at the same time. When you feel hungry, you eat a meal, and when you have eaten, you are satisfied. But Jesus speaks of hunger and satisfaction that exist together.
Martin Lloyd-Jones writes: “The Christian is one who at one and the same time is hungering and thirsting, and yet he is filled. And the more he is filled, the more he hungers and thirsts. That is the blessedness of the Christian life. It goes on.”
What does the believer thirst for? He thirsts after holiness. “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as [Christ] is pure” (1 John 3:3). The distinguishing mark of those who are righteous in Christ is that they long for righteousness.
Aren’t you glad Jesus did not say, “Blessed are the righteous”? Where would that leave us? Thank God He said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” It is not the fulfillment of the desire, but the desire itself that Christ pronounces blessed.
Is that true of you? Do you feel your need for righteousness? Has God awakened in your heart a great desire to be holy, a longing to be done with sin?
Make this prayer from A.W. Tozer your own:
Lord, I’ve tasted Your goodness, and it has satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire.
O Triune God, I want to want you. I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still.
Show me Your glory, I pray that I may know You indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul “Rise up my love and come away.”
Then give me the grace to rise and follow You, up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long.
