Beatitudes: Blessed are Those that Hunger and Thirst

Years ago I stayed awake driving at night by listening to a preacher who was on a nationwide radio broadcast almost every night. He would come on singing a song about there being only one way to God and then say, “If you ain’t got it like I got it, you ain’t got it.” I would laugh, never stopping to think that I could sing the same song and say the same statement, because that is how I saw salvation at that time. I was raised with a set plan of salvation that included well-defined steps one must take to establish a relationship with God.

Hunger and thirst doesn’t sound much like a set plan. That sounds more like a personal and individual encounter which could not be boxed into one-size-fits-all steps to follow.

Hunger and thirst sounds more like everything God has to offer us is mutual and personalized. He will not forgive us unless we want to be forgiven. He will not guide us until we are guidable. His salvation, or maybe it is better said, His forming a personal relationship with us, is based on His willingness to do so and our willingness to accept His Love, His presence, and His grace in our individual lives. Therefore what we become is based on a mutual involvement between what God has to offer and our hunger to receive it.

The relationship is also individualized. Jesus met folks where they were and responded to their needs and hungers.

To one young rich man He said to go sell all he had and come follow Him.

To one man with high rank in the religious leadership He said, “You need to be born again”

To a woman at a well who had been through multiple marriages and never found peace He said, “Drink of the water I offer and you will thirst no more.”

To many of His followers He simply said, “Come follow me.”

Coming from my background, with a drilled-in set plan of salvation, I often wondered when these guys got saved. When did they go through the steps I was taught everyone had to take? When did they pray the “sinners prayer?”

The idea of a mutual and personalized founding of a relationship has some very important impacts on our efforts to share the good news to others. For years I have heard that we must reach children because adults seem to have hardened hearts and are rarely reached. Then I realized that the only ones Jesus reached while He was here were all adults. Perhaps His individual and mutual approaches fit the adult better than our set idea of one plan fits all. Perhaps our emphasis on a person being first convicted of sin turns off adults. If I was selling cars and I told every customer they could not buy a car from me unless they were willing to admit they were stupid for not already owning such a car, how many cars would I sell? But because we have convinced ourselves that no one is ready to be saved until they are convicted, we turn off all but the most desperate adults.

The question then becomes, when is a person ready to be saved? Perhaps the answer is when they are hungry. That hunger may be from realizing they have been wrong, but it might also come from seeing the results in others and simply wanting that for themselves. Blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6 ERV

Perhaps this beatitude is not just about the establishing of a relationship, maybe it is more about the end goal and desired result of that relationship. He came to model the fullness of the Christian life and show us the blessings it has to offer. He is saying if we hunger and thirst after righteousness, our lives will be fulfilled and blessed. Therefore understanding what righteousness is should become an important goal in our lives. What is righteousness? When are we righteous? Is it a feeling or an emotion we feel when in church? Is it being pious? Is it studying the Bible and praying a lot?

It seems strange to me that we talk a lot about the “Christian life” and “Growing deeper into the Christian life.” But somehow no one defines the ultimate goal we seek. What does righteousness look like? How can I know what I am supposed to be becoming?

I think the answer to that is found in a little used text from the sixteenth chapter of John’s gospel. Jesus was telling his followers that He was leaving them and trying to prepare them for life after He was gone. He said He would send His spirit to teach them about sin, righteousness and judgement to come. Then He explained each area further.

The spirit would teach about sin because they do not believe in Him. In other words, the sin the spirit will talk about is the sin of unbelief.

Of judgement, because even the princes of this world will be judged.

Of righteousness, “because I go to the Father and you see me no more.” He seems to be saying that He and His life are the epitome of righteousness. If we want to know what the righteous life looks like, look at Him. If we want to be righteous, then hunger and thirst to be like Him. To love like He loved. To accept others like He did. To give ourselves away in service, to even the least of folks, like He did. The only true goal of the Christian life is to be like Him. The ultimate fulfillment of that life is the result of our hunger.

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Eight Attitudes of Some Salty Christians

Attitude one: Keep an open mind
Attitude two: Be open to the comfort of others
Attitude three: Trust the power of love
Attitude four: Know the goal and thirst for it