March 23| Based on Matthew 5:6| Hunger That Heals: Finding True Satisfaction in Christ
đź“– Matthew 5:6
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled"
🌟 Have You Ever Been Truly, Desperately Thirsty? 🌟
Have you ever been truly, desperately thirsty? That moment when your throat constricts, your tongue feels like sandpaper, and nothing—absolutely nothing—matters except finding water? In Matthew 5:6, Jesus makes a stunning claim: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." Most of us read this as a nice sentiment about being good people. But what if Jesus was describing something far more primal, more essential to our souls than we've realized?
Many Christians approach righteousness like a vitamin supplement—something we should probably take, but not something we crave with our whole being. We've sanitized this beatitude, domesticated its wild promise. But Jesus wasn't speaking of polite spiritual appetite—he was describing a desperate, consuming hunger that drives everything we do.
Here's what's fascinating: while every other hunger we experience temporarily satisfies but ultimately returns stronger than before, Jesus promises that this particular hunger—for righteousness—actually leads to lasting fulfillment. It's the only appetite that, when pursued, doesn't consume us but completes us.
Today, we'll explore what it truly means to hunger and thirst for righteousness, why this spiritual craving is the path to satisfaction rather than frustration, and how we can cultivate this sacred appetite in our daily lives.
🌱 What Did Jesus Mean by "Righteousness"?
Let’s start by understanding what Jesus meant by "righteousness." In our culture, righteousness often carries the baggage of self-righteousness—that unpleasant, judgmental attitude none of us wants to be around. But thebiblical concept is something altogether different and life-giving.
The Hebrew understanding of righteousness—tzedakah—wasn’t primarily about moral perfection but right relationship. To be righteous meant to be in proper alignment with God, others, and even creation itself. This alignment wasn’t achieved through rigid rule-following but through a heart attuned to the rhythms of God’s character.
Think of it like this: righteousness is less like memorizing sheet music and more like learning to dance with a beloved partner, sensing their movements, anticipating their steps, finding joy in the harmony of moving as one. When Jesus speaks of hungering for righteousness, he’s talking about a soul-deep longing for this dance of alignment with the divine.
And notice he doesn’t say, "Blessed are those who are righteous," but rather, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." The blessing isn’t in having already arrived but in the passionate pursuit itself.
But we can’t stop here—there’s something even more profound to uncover in these words...
⏳ The Power of Hunger and Thirst ⏳
The imagery of hunger and thirst isn’t accidental. These are our most basic, non-negotiable needs. We can postpone many desires, but hunger and thirst eventually override everything else. When truly thirsty, a person will drink from muddy water. When truly hungry, they’ll eat what they once found repulsive.
Jesus is describing a spiritual appetite that refuses substitutes, that cannot be appeased by lesser nourishments. In a world offering countless ways to satisfy our souls—success, recognition, pleasure, power—Jesus suggests that none of these will ultimately fill us. They are like saltwater to a castaway: the more we drink, the thirstier we become.
What would change in our lives if we hungered for righteousness—for alignment with God’s heart—with the same intensity that we hunger for approval, for security, for comfort? What if we felt the absence of righteousness as painfully as we feel physical hunger?
Winter streams that have run dry leave beds of smooth stones waiting for rushing waters to return. In many ways, our souls are like these stream beds—carved for a purpose, designed to carry something life-giving, restless until the waters of righteousness flow through us again.
But there’s still more to see in this beatitude’s promise...
✨ The Promise of Being Filled ✨
The most startling element of this teaching is the promise at the end: "for they will be filled." Not "they might be filled" or "they will be filled if they work hard enough." It’s a guarantee, a divine promise. The very hunger itself becomes the vessel that God fills.
This reveals something essential about God’s nature. Unlike us, God doesn’t withhold good things to see if we’re serious enough or committed enough to deserve them. The very desire for righteousness—for alignment with God’s heart—attracts God’s response like nothing else.
There’s a holy invitation here: to stop filling ourselves with what doesn’t satisfy and to allow our spiritual hunger to grow acute enough that we recognize our true need. Sometimes we need to empty ourselves of lesser hungers to feel the deeper one awakening within.
Consider the ancient practice of fasting. When we voluntarily embrace physical hunger, something interesting happens—our spiritual sensitivity often increases. Why? Because we’re temporarily setting aside one appetite to awaken another. We’re creating space to feel a deeper hunger.
The empty field waits for snow in winter, for wildflowers in spring, for golden wheat in summer. Similarly, our emptiness—honestly acknowledged—prepares us for filling. Our hunger, embraced rather than denied, becomes the prerequisite for feast.
🌼 In Closing🌼
As we close, I’m reminded of something I’ve observed countless times: we humans are masters at numbing our deepest hungers. We reach for our phones when silence grows uncomfortable. We turn to food when emotions feel overwhelming. We chase success when meaning seems elusive.
What if, instead, we allowed ourselves to feel the sacred hunger Jesus describes? What if we recognized that our restlessness, our dissatisfaction, our sense that there must be something more—is actually the blessed hunger that precedes being filled?
The journey of faith isn’t about becoming people who no longer hunger or thirst. It’s about discovering what we were truly hungry for all along. It’s about allowing our deepest appetites to be awakened and directed toward what actually satisfies—right relationship with God and the righteousness that flows from that connection.
Maybe today is your invitation to stop filling yourself with what doesn’t satisfy. Maybe it’s time to embrace the hunger, to let it grow acute enough that you recognize it for what it is—not a curse to be managed but a blessing that precedes fulfillment.
For in God’s upside-down kingdom, the hungry are promised food. The thirsty are offered living water. And those who ache for righteousness will find themselves, at last, truly filled.
I’d love to have you join our 30-day prayer challenge where we dig into scripture, connect with God, and build a habit that sticks. Click the link below to get your free FaithLabz download and start today—looking forward to seeing you there! Once again, I’m Adam Wilber and as always my friend… Onward.
An Invitation to go Deeper….
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