May 10 - Matthew 5:6

May 10
Matthew 5:6

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

As we walk our way through the eight Beatitudes in Matthew, chapter 5, we have learned so far that those who are the  happiest - receiving spiritually prosperity in life - are those who know they have a need for a Savior, choosing Jesus Christ as their Messiah - the One who came to set all men free.  For us then who choose and follow after Christ, we have the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide and lead us through life. When we listen and obey His voice, we then prosper in all areas of life because we keep attuned to His voice and are obedient to His leading.

In this fourth Beatitude, we see that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled - saturated to overflowing.  Our spiritual health then depends on our desire for righteousness, which is meant to line up with God's Word and His character. When or if we recognize we fall short in that area, and we all do from time to time, this is when we humbly go before God asking Him to change our hearts to become more like Jesus. Since God is in the business of change, and He delights when His children reach out to have God change them, we can be sure that He will do that work within us when we sincerely ask Him to change us. 

While our bodies crave food, attention and instant gratification, our souls crave for love and acceptance.  Our spirits, on the other hand, carry the deepest cravings of all. As a child of God, our born-again spirits have been renewed to crave to become more like Jesus, which means we earnestly hunger and thirst for His righteousness. When we allow our soul to submit to the Holy Spirit within our spirit, we are then yielding to those cravings that God placed within our spirit to desire to become more like Him. This is exactly where God wants us to be - craving for righteousness - for then He will fill us with overflowing saturation of enjoying the righteousness that comes only from Him.