“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” Matthew 5:6
The first three beatitudes are about seeing your own position, but the fourth beatitude moves you forward. It speaks about the desire that rises from a true knowledge of yourself. You are hungry for righteousness.
Hunger is an intense desire
A person who is really hungry will do almost anything to get food. His life depends on it. This intense desire, this hunger and thirst for God and His righteousness is a hallmark of a true believer. “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” (Psa. 42:1-2).
Hunger is a sign of need
When you are hungry, your body is telling you that you need to eat. Hunger indicates the absence of food in the body. It’s the body’s awareness of its own need.
Jesus tells us that the people who are blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. In other words, when it comes to righteousness, the blessed people are not those who think they have it, but those who feel their lack of it.
Hunger is a sign of life
Nobody teaches a baby how to be hungry—where there’s life, there’s hunger. When a person is born again, you do not need to tell her to desire holiness; the soul of a Christian hungers for holiness as the body hungers for food.
Hunger is a sign of health
A healthy appetite is a good sign that a person is well. But if a person loses his appetite, it is usually a sign that something is wrong with the body. Apply this spiritually. If you have a deep longing to grow in Christ, you are in a good state of spiritual health. The sign of spiritual health is not to feel you have arrived, but to feel you have a great longing for more.
Why are you blessed if you hunger and thirst for righteousness?
