I find it very interesting that we have come to the beatitude of hungering and thirsting for righteousness, right at the tail end of an election. I voted for the first time in Texas and was shocked to see signs everywhere at the voting place. There was even a group of people trying to get me to vote for their candidate right outside where I was going to vote. In Nebraska, signs, and supporters had to be 200 feet away so I was not used to having to wade through them so close to the building. I made it through unharmed and voted.
If you have been watching TV for any length of time or listening to the radio, you have been blitzed with different candidates talking about all the things that are wrong. Telling you how they are going to fix it.
The beatitudes require us to see the world in a completely different way than how politicians and government want us to view the world. We are to see it through the Word of God, the Bible. What the Bible says is what is wrong with the world is not one particular sin, like crime, fraud, greed, but the big problem is sin itself. It has darkened the hearts and minds of people so that they do selfish things. It has even hurt nature so that there are fighting and death. When you watch the news, you can become very worried about what is going on throughout the world. Armies are fighting or threatening to fight. There is great violence.
But I have the answer to all of the world’s problems. Do you want world peace? Here is the answer, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. If every man, woman, and child were to hunger and thirst for righteousness, there would be no danger of war. If everyone hungered and thirst for righteousness, there would be no fighting at home. There would be no mean things said or done at school. Problem solved. The good news of the gospel changes hearts.
Our hearts are where our true desires live. Ultimately, we all want to be happy. In the beatitudes, Jesus is telling us how to be happy. Jesus starts off each beatitude by saying blessed. Blessed means happy. Sin has ruined everything and the beatitudes are how Jesus is telling us how to make things right again.
Sin twists everything up. Instead of being blessed because we hunger and thirst for righteousness, sin makes us hunger and thirst for blessed. For happiness. But Jesus says no, being blessed comes from hungering and thirsting for righteousness. We are not to seek happiness in the place of righteousness. Think of it this way. If I were to go to the doctor because I had this horrible pain that would not go away. If the doctor only gave me medicine to make me feel better but did not run any tests to find out what was causing the pain, he would not be a good doctor.
We all have this pain in our heart and we try to stop the pain by seeking happiness. We hunger and thirst for happiness. Or we hunger and thirst for experiences that we think will make us happy. The next big vacation. The next time to play Fortnite. We can’t wait for Christmas and getting lots of presents. Going out to eat at your favorite restaurant. If seeking happiness and seeking the next epic experience is what you are hungering and thirsting for, you are treating the hurt in your heart with medicine that only covers up the pain. It will never cure you or really stop the pain. Blessedness, happiness, only comes when we seek righteousness.
What is righteousness? Righteousness means to be free from sin. Why would we want to be righteous? Sin separates us from God. Our heart’s desire should be to be right with God so we should have no desire to have any part of sin because that moves up away from God. We should want to get rid of the outside and inside the pollution of sin. Here is something very important that we all need to learn about God. God is way more concerned in your holiness, which is your righteousness through Jesus before God than He is with your happiness. Pastor Paul David Tripp says it this way
“We forget that God’s primary goal is not changing our situations or relationships so that we can be happy, but changing us through our situations and relationships so that we will be holy.”
What would righteousness look like? It means being like Christ. To put it a little more practical, think of it this way. What would Jesus do and be like if he was a grammar student at Annapolis? How would Jesus act as a kindergartner? 3rd grader? As a 6th grader? How would he treat his classmates? Play at recess? Obey His teacher? Do his work? Jesus would do everything in a way that was pursuing righteousness.
The promise of the beatitude is if you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you will be filled. It means you will get what you desire. You will be satisfied. You are satisfied because the holy spirit works in your heart and guides you and fills you with true happiness.
Imagine what would happen to Washington DC or Austin or Corpus if Christians who truly hungered and thirst for righteousness were voted into office. Imagine what would happen to our grammar school if each student and teacher and principal hungered and thirst for righteousness.
You and I must ask ourselves, am I filled? Do I hunger and thirst for righteousness? Or do I want my own happiness above all?