Aug 24th Devotion

John North

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

Pursue righteousness and God will let you catch it!

What happens when you are hungry and even more so, what happens when you are thirsty? That’s pretty much all you can think of, right? Especially when you get really hungry and thirsty. It consumes you. It controls you.

Imagine that—an all-consuming desire to be righteous that comes from within and controls us. Notice Jesus’ analogy to physical hunger and thirst. We cannot live without food or water. Likewise, Jesus is telling us to have this all-consuming desire for righteousness because we know that we cannot live without it.

Jesus is talking about an inner yearning. May our hearts burn with desire for righteousness! May our souls be dying with the desire to be righteous. That is a challenge because it’s an attitude of the heart.

Here’s the principle: If you fill your heart up with worldly things, that won’t leave any room in your heart for the hunger for righteousness. And on the flip side, if you fill your heart up with righteousness, there will be no room in your heart for worldly things.

Look at the beautiful promise of God again: “They shall be satisfied.” What an amazing promise! Your soul shall be satisfied. As Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Jesus wants you to know today that when your soul pants after him, it will be satisfied. Not just mostly satisfied, or sometimes satisfied, but 100% satisfaction. Like after having the best dinner of your life.

And for each person, that satisfaction will be different. Some people will need peace in their hearts. Others will need love. Others will need grace. But you know that God knows exactly what you need. And he will satisfy that need.

Now go fill your souls! Spend some time with God now asking him to give you a hunger and thirst for him and for the righteousness that pleases him.