THE BEATITUDES VI

THE BEATITUDES VI

The next beatitude is:

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

How do you show 'hunger and thirst for righteousness'? By going to church? It should be one way of doing so. We talked about the importance of attending church worship services when we were discussing the Ten Commandments. However, attending 'church' should not be the only way of satisfying that hunger and thirst. If you only pay attention to what is offered to satisfy your 'hunger and thirst for righteousness' on Sunday, your Christianity, your faith, will starve. You will not be satisfied.

Perhaps we need to step back and ask ourselves whether we really do hunger and thirst for righteousness. What does that mean? I don't think this is something that just happens to us. I don't think this hunger is that basic. The sinful nature we were born with and the sinful nature of the world around us has had too great an impact on most of us. The world would have us believe that people who hunger and thirst for righteousness are too conservative, too religious, too 'square', to use a slang term. They have no fun.

However, those of us who have lived a little while, or who have experienced more of what this world has to offer know that ultimately, in the end, the world does not satisfy. Popularity and fame, all our leisure pursuits, hobbies, collections, athletic prowess and ability, beauty, wealth, even our health – all these things that we may enjoy on earth - all fades and passes. Material possessions, worldly goods, can decay or rust or be stolen, as Jesus reminded us in Matt. 6:19-20, farther on in the Sermon on the Mount.

Most people realize as they get older that what ultimately satisfies in life is doing the right thing. Young people often like to drive speedily and perhaps somewhat recklessly. They think they are proving their skill, their independence; they don't have to listen to any rules of the road. Eventually, when we mature, we learn that the rules are there for a reason. If we follow them, we can feel more comfortable knowing we are doing the right thing, being safer, and not putting our lives and others' at risk. What was really the point of all that speeding and wild driving anyway? The mature person feels good enough just knowing they have done right. That is enough of a reward. That is righteousness. That is satisfaction. Are we there yet?