Matthew 5:6
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
The Bible word we translate “as righteousness” here is a Greek word (“dikaiosune”) which means to be “right” with God. This word was used in ancient literature to describe a person who did the “right” thing before both God and other people
Jesus says this attitude is blessed because when we hunger and thirst for it, it will cause us to seek that “rightness” with God, which will ultimately lead us to find satisfaction in Him.
We have that initial “hunger” for God that brings us to Him to be saved. But then we still have a kind of “ongoing hunger” to worship every day of our lives. We were created with a desire to be with God, worship Him, and be satisfied in Him.
God, by the Holy Spirit, wants to create in us a hunger for something that we desperately need and cannot live without, which is righteousness. We often think of righteousness as something we do, but righteousness in the bible in 1 Corinthians 1:30 is wrapped up in a person whose name is Jesus.
Jesus always had a deep spiritual hunger to be with His Father. He showed that in Mark 1:35, when He was so busy, that people were lined outside his door all night to get in to see Him, and yet with all that busyness, Jesus was up before sunrise because He just had to have His time with God! That is “hunger and thirst for righteousness.” That’s what Jesus had.
As we imitate Jesus in this, and hunger and thirst for God in our daily life, we will be satisfied. We will experience peace, satisfaction, and joy.
