Blessed Are Those Who Hunger And Thirst For Righteousness . Series

There’s another individual I would draw to your attention who had ambition. There are many examples, but I’m just giving you one more illustration. In Luke chapter 12, in verse 17, we meet the rich fool Then He (Jesus) told them a parable: “A rich man’s land was very productive. He thought to himself, ‘What should I do, since I don’t have anywhere to store my crops? I will do this,’ he said. ‘I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones and store all my grain and my goods there. Then I’ll say to myself, “You have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.” ’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared — whose will they be?

There have been plenty of people with ambition. Power hungry, praise hungry, possession hungry. We could even say of this man, he was pleasure hungry. “Eat, drink, and be merry.” But they were all fools. They were hungry for the wrong thing. Nothing wrong with ambition. Nothing wrong with passion. Nothing wrong with a resolute drive. Nothing wrong with a great desire if it’s for the right thing.

The problem is that people are hungry and thirsty for the wrong things. Notice that Jesus did not say:

"Blessed are those who are hungry and thirsty for:

1. Pleasure

2. Happiness

3. Wealth

4. Recognition

5. Blessings

6. Experience (the latest religious fad)

You say, “Then what’s the right thing?” Go back to Matt. 5 and verse 6, that’s the right thing. “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness.” Now, this is a strong statement. Food and water are necessities, so is righteousness. That’s the first indication of this Beatitude. You need righteousness like you need food and water. It isn’t wrong to hunger. It isn’t wrong to thirst. It is the most normal thing. It is the most common drive. It is the most necessary drive, and so it is with righteousness.

Of course, when we have what we want, we do not hunger and thirst for it. Only when our desire is still unfulfilled do we truly strive to fill it. This beatitude of hungering and thirsting pictures a believer who has an acute sensitivity or awareness of a need in his life that must be filled. Because it is yet unfilled, he yearns for it with all his being.

The Bible's writers frequently employ the imagery of hunger and especially thirst to illustrate an ardent desire, particularly for the things of God:

Psalm 42:1-2: As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

Psalm 63:1: O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.

It is equally important to understand that Jesus is teaching his disciples a totally different concept of religion, of spirituality, of relationship with God, and of relationship with people.

Jesus is not merely telling them something different. He is sharing with them thoughts and revelations that is radically oppose to what they always accepted, and always understood as being the truth of the scriptures.