Starving for Righteousness

Starving for Righteousness

Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”

In the first temptation of Jesus, in Matthew 4:3,  the devil challenged Jesus to command stones to become bread in order to prove His identity.  The challenge came when Jesus had already fasted forty days and nights and was famished.  The devil was gambling on Jesus’ physical hunger outweighing His spiritual hunger.  We know the temptation failed.  Jesus answered the devil by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3b saying – “humankind cannot live by bread alone, but also by everything that comes from the Lord’s mouth.”

A few years ago I was struggling with being overweight and went on a weight loss program.  I was warned of a couple things ahead of time, both of which came true for me.  First, I was warned that the weight would come off quickly.  It came true – when I started the program the weight came off easily.  In two months I was down to my high school and college weight.  I was amazed!  Second, I was warned that my sense of hunger would disappear after the third day of fasting and I would need to schedule my calorie-limited meals or I would forget to eat.  It happened exactly as my health coach said it would.  I had to go so far as to set alarms reminding me to eat because I was no longer hungry.  I must admit, however, the first three days of fasting were utter torture because I got hungry.  I had never reduced my calories so drastically before – but then, after the third day, my sense of hunger suddenly vanished.

Can you imagine being so used to fasting from the Word of God that we no longer feel the hunger and thirst for righteousness?  Imagine having to schedule times to study God’s Word throughout the day in order to be spiritually nourished – or eating only a few tiny meals of God’s Word a day.  That was me with my physical food!!  We do not need to be on a weight-loss diet for God’s Word!  When was the last time we felt hungry and thirsty for righteousness?  We need to eat from God’s Word more than we currently do!  Most of us only eat one tiny meal a day from God’s Word – or we go on a multi-day fast only to get one meal a week when we go to church!  How can we live off that?? When I came off the diet – my sense of hunger returned – and so did some of my weight!  We need to get off the weight-loss diet of God’s Word for most of us are malnourished and in danger of starving to death!

Let’s start eating more than one meal a day of Bible study and prayer and watch as our hunger and thirst for righteousness returns with a vengeance! Remember the prophet Daniel?  Daniel 6:10b says “Three times daily he was kneeling and offering prayers and thanks to his God just as he had been accustomed to do previously.  He could not get by without his three square meals a day from His God.  We can’t get by without feeding from God either!  Let’s be hungry and thirsty for Jesus and allow Him to satisfy our souls today!