{"id":18778,"date":"2014-03-30T00:15:40","date_gmt":"2014-03-30T04:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=18778"},"modified":"2014-03-30T08:00:58","modified_gmt":"2014-03-30T12:00:58","slug":"hunger-thirst-righteousness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/03\/30\/hunger-thirst-righteousness\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We have now entered the season of Lent. \u00a0For many Christians, Lent is taken as a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter where God miraculously redeemed mankind by resurrecting His Son from the dead. It is also a time to consider what Jesus said and did; and how we should be living in light of His Words. \u00a0\u271e \u2665<\/p>\n

During this season, here on the\u00a0Seeking Him<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0devotional blog, we have chosen to focus our devotionals on Jesus\u2019 instructions and admonition communicated in Matthew chapter 5\u2014the Beatitudes. \u00a0Jesus said, \u201cBlessed are\u2026\u201d and He went on to give instruction as to how to be \u201cblessed<\/em>.\u201d \u00a0To be \u2018blessed\u2019 is to \u2018be happy, or to be envied.\u2019 \u00a0 Truly for the Christian, we ARE blessed\u2014oh, how very blessed we are! \u00a0Those who observe our lives should clearly be able to tell that we ARE blessed\u2014and that we KNOW it! \u271e \u2665<\/p>\n

Please consider Jesus\u2019 instructions along with us. \u00a0We pray that our words will encourage you and spur you on to be prepare your hearts for the joyous celebration of His Resurrection! \u00a0\u271e \u2665<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, <\/span><\/strong>for they shall be satisfied.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Matthew 5:6<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is one of the most important verses in the Sermon on the Mount. \u00a0The foundational requirement for all godly living is to \u201c…hunger and thirst for righteousness.\u201d<\/p>\n

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness
\nand all these things will be given to you as well.
\nMatthew 6:33<\/p>\n

(Such hunger was also seen in Moses; see Exodus 33:13, 18.)<\/p>\n

If you recall from the Gospels, Jesus\u2019 disciples\u2014and many others\u2014believed the Messiah would be a warrior-figure who would lead His people against the Romans and tear down those oppressors. \u00a0 He would establish a new kingdom \u00a0where the ancient theocracy would be re-established. \u00a0You can certainly sense this behind the disciples\u2019 rebuke of Jesus when he would speak of his forthcoming execution at the hands of the Jewish leaders (e.g., Matthew 16:21-23)<\/a>, or their question about the establishment of the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6<\/a>). But we know that is not<\/strong> the kind of Messiahship Jesus had in mind, nor was the kingdom He spoke of one of physical dominion.<\/p>\n

So, while it is true that God will establish His people, giving them relief from oppression, and the restoration of justice, God\u2019s plan is much more long-term than we might think. There will come a time when His kingdom will be established, the wicked will be punished, and the oppressed and persecuted will be rewarded for their faithfulness. But it will be in a way that is much more spiritually satisfying.<\/p>\n

For that reason, I think it is better to consider this Beatitude (Matthew 5:6) in terms of \u201crighteousness\u201d than \u201cjustice.\u201d \u00a0And it is ultimately that righteousness before God for which we should hunger and thirst. \u00a0It is the deer in Psalm 42<\/a> that we should emulate—thirsting after God as the deer thirsts after water. \u00a0When He was tempted (Matthew 4:3-5), Jesus resisted the satanic urging to transform the rocks into bread that He might break His fast and reminded Satan that man survives on the Word of God. \u00a0Physical needs are easily taken care of\u2014the hungry and thirsty can be satisfied with bread and water. \u00a0But if that spiritual longing for the righteousness of God to reign in one\u2019s heart is not present, there\u2019s nothing anyone can do to satisfy that craving. \u00a0Only God can do tha<\/em>t. \u00a0So it is imperative we look to God, yearn for Him and for His righteousness. And His promise is that He will not fail us.<\/p>\n

There is no justice outside\u00a0of God, and to seek after God is to seek after the only One through whom true justice can reign.\u00a0\u00a0And even if we don\u2019t see it in this life, we know He will bring it about in His time when He declares an end to all things.<\/p>\n

But more importantly, we should seek after God with diligence. \u00a0His righteousness should be our consuming passion. \u00a0And we know that when we do this, we will find Him, and we will be satisfied.<\/p>\n

\u00a0* ~\u00a0\u2665\u00a0~\u00a0\u271e<\/strong>\u00a0~\u00a0\u2665~ *<\/span><\/p>\n

Father, we thank You for when we seek You all things shall be added unto us. This is the promise we have in You…in Jesus\u2019 name we pray, Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  We have now entered the season of Lent. \u00a0For many Christians, Lent is taken as a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter where God miraculously redeemed mankind by resurrecting His Son from the dead. It is also a time to consider what Jesus said and did; and how we should be living […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[3188,127,1287,5940,5784,1624,3174],"class_list":["post-18778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-ann-mwafulirwa","tag-beatitudes","tag-gch","tag-hunger-and-thirst-after-righteousness","tag-jesus-speaking","tag-matthew-56","tag-seeking-him-devotional","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-4SS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18778"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18787,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18778\/revisions\/18787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}