WHAT THINGS DO YOU HAVE A HUNGER AND THIRST FOR?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
(Matthew 5:6)

MEDITATION:
Do you believe the promises made in God’s Word? If you do, then you
know when you are promised something, you will receive it (if you do
what is required of you).

With that in mind, think of a time when you were so hungry that you
felt if you didn’t get some food immediately, you would get lightheaded
and start having the shakes. No matter what was going on around you,
your focus and your desire were all about food.

Now, think about a time when you were, ‘dying of thirst!’ It could have
been when you were playing some sport, going for a jog, or ate too many
salty things. Whatever the reason, it is akin to being hungry – your focus
and desire were all about finding something to quench your thirst.

That’s the kind of hunger and thirst we need to have for righteousness
if we expect to be filled with it. We need to become so frustrated with
our failed attempts to avoid sinfulness in our lives that we are desperate
for righteousness to replace the unrighteousness in our lives. No matter
what is going on around us, we need to be focused on, and have a desire
for God’s righteousness.

God knows what we need (and hopefully have a burning desire for it),
so when we receive His most gracious gift of salvation, He begins
a process called ‘sanctification’, where He starts purging us of
all unrighteousness and filling us with His righteousness.

The question we must ask ourselves is,
    “How well will I receive His process in my life?”
We can be grateful that He loves us and wants to help us overcome
the sinfulness in our lives, or we can resent and rebel against His
efforts to transform us into more of a likeness of His Son, Jesus.
It all depends on our level of ‘hunger and thirst for righteousness’.

Once we are filled with righteousness, we know we can be more
successful in resisting temptations and sin. We can also welcome
a new joy when we wake up in the morning because we know He
is with us!

Being filled with righteousness gives us the opportunity to experience
the joy of feeling the peace of God when we go to bed at night, and
we can sleep the sleep of those who know Christ! Joy will begin to
overflow and we will find we have a new closeness with the Lord
and can fellowship with Him in ways we never imagined possible.

Righteous living is not something we can attain in our own strength,
so it’s important for us to hunger and thirst for it, because when we
do, the Lord will fill us with it. That’s a promise in God’s Word!

ACTION:
Questions to consider:
    – Do I hunger and thirst to walk in righteousness?
       (this should be a natural desire for those who belong to God).
    – Do I long for joy, peace, contentment, abandonment of sin,
       and a new adventure in righteousness for my own soul?
    – Have I developed frustration in my failures to live righteously
       and a disgust for sinfulness in the same manner that God hates it?
    – Do I accept and embrace God’s sanctification of me, even though
       some of it may be painful, or do I reject His efforts to help me
       because there are one or more sins that I want to ‘hang on to’?

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for the promise of filling my life
with Your love. I realize that righteousness needs to be living
within me and I can only receive it from You. Develop in me
the type of hunger and thirst I must have so You will fill me
with righteousness. I want to experience peace and joy that
are byproducts of being filled with Your righteousness. I want
my life to be a testimony to others of Your presence, control
and guidance within me. Unrighteousness speaks loudly to
others, but so does my hunger and thirst for righteousness!
I pray that I will not be timid or embarrassed about having
this kind of hunger and thirst for more of You in my life.”

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