Hunger & Thirst after Righteousness

In Matt 5:6, Jesus states the forth beatitude which is, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."

The first thing that we must be able to establish in order to actually "hunger and thirst after righteousness," is to realize that we have no true righteousness within our own sinful and fallen selves. This is one of the greatest and most difficult obstacles for both sinners and struggling believers, because pride keeps our minds thinking that the answer in which we seek exists within our own substance and nothing could be further from the truth.

The Bible says the following about the unredeemed and those that lack the revelation of Salvation's Transaction:

Rom 3:11-12 "There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that does good, no, not one."

Isa 64:6 "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." ("filthy rags" here are actually viewed by the Hebrew, which is the language that the old testament is written in, as the monthly rags that women throw away, we mention this because that is how our own righteousness is viewed compared to the perfection of our Lord's.)

Jer 17:9 "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Yeah, I can see THAT on a plaque in someone's living room!)

These are not things that we like to read or hear, simply because they are not very encouraging, but in order that we might reach for the solution to our sin problem, we must first be able to come to the painful conclusion that within ourselves, we lack the true and ultimate solution to those things which ale us. When one has come to the place of acceptance of this fact, they have now taken the first step to victory!

Unfortunately, we don't reach this revelation easily and it is usually only when we have totally exhausted every effort and all of our reserves, back up plans and depleted whatever sources of help we may have formerly had, can we then reach higher for the Answer and Way up. My husband always says, "One thing you can always be assured of when you hit rock bottom in your life....it's solid down there!" But my response is always, "Yes, and then we can finally look up to see our solution."

What if we served a God that made impossible demands for us, who commanded us to do that which we do not have the ability to do by ourselves? (We do.) What if we tried to do all that He asked us to do, because we really thought that we could, and we failed, as a result we would suffer eternal damnation? Isn't that unfair? The answer is yes, that would be unfair. The reason we said that we DO serve a God that commands that which we cannot perform ourselves, is because God demands total and complete perfection from us. In case anyone hasn't noticed, if you have ever attempted this feat, one might have realized that they couldn't even last an entire day of "right living," let alone a full lifetime. So why would He ask us to do that then? We first had to be able to see that there is a standard in which to live by. Without being told we shouldn't do this or that, we would do it not believing it was wrong! That would mean that we were sinful with no consciousness of our actually BEING sinful. Then, once we look into the mirror and see the "smudge of dirt on our face," after trying to rub the mirror to get it off, we would finally assess that the smudge is not the mirror's fault, but rather with us. Once we see it is us that is the problem, we are able to see that there is a need to seek the way in which to have it removed. That is where Christ comes in.

We would love to continue further with our explanation of this, but feel the need to continue in the next blog for the sake of the readers.

to be continued.....


p.s. Melissa Goodwin, if you still read these blogs, if you could comment on this blog and let me know that your address is still the same as it was the last time we spoke, I would like to send you something for your youngest daughter. I just want to be sure that the address that I have is still correct before I send it. Thanks and God bless. Love you! -H-