for they will be filled.

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


There is a verse in Luke’s account of Jesus at the home of Mary and Martha, where Martha gets upset with Mary for not helping in the kitchen. In the last verse of Luke chapter ten, Jesus says something to Martha I want to conclude with, regarding hungering and thirsting for righteousness.


“…..but only one thing is needed,” Jesus said. “ Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”


Only one thing is needed, Jesus told Martha – not two or three or four or five, only one. Simplifies things. Doesn’t it? What is the ONE thing that is needed? Sitting at Jesus’ feet. For us that means being a disciple, a learner, a follower of Jesus. I must come to Him to learn from Him.


“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28


Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet – the position of the student – listening to what Jesus said. She was hungry and thirsty for righteousness – food that lasts a lifetime -- while Martha was hungry and thirsty for food that lasts a few hours. Each of them is feasting, but on different food entirely.


“Only one thing is needed,” Jesus says – only one thing. I thought this week when I came to Friday’s meditation I would discuss all the ways we could come to know Jesus. If we are going to seek HIS righteousness, then we’re going to have to know HIM, who HE is, how HE speaks, how HE acts, in order to walk and talk as HE walks and talks, which scripture tells us to do. “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” 1 John 1:6 But since Jesus boiled down what he said to Martha into one thing, that’s what I’m going to do as well. Come to Jesus, familiarize yourself with Jesus, by listening to his WORD.


Open, read, study, meditate on the Bible. Open, read, study, meditate on the Bible. Open, read, study, meditate on the Bible because that’s where faith comes from. “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17 Faith comes from the word of God. I did not come up with this principle, but I have lived the reality of it. I have faith. I believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of the living God. I believe that God created the Heavens and the earth – that God spoke and there was light. I believe he changed the leper’s spots. I believe he shut the lion’s mouths when he saved Daniel. I believe he parted the Red Sea and the Israelites passed. And on and on I could go. I believe because I’ve studied the Bible. I have tried and tested and found it’s true.


I will not be filled with Jesus’ righteousness if I look for it somewhere else. Nothing else can fill me. I can honestly say that what Jesus said when he was tempted, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God,” I understand. Many, many, many times since becoming a “disciple” in the strictest sense of the word, I have studied for eight, ten, even twelve hours without eating, never getting hungry. The word of God sustains me. I don’t know how it happens but it does. There is a life-giving energy in the word of God. I hope you’ve experienced it. I pray if you haven’t, you’ll pray that you will. If you have never studied the word of God, ask yourself if you want to want to. If you don’t, then you won’t. It’s just that simple. Pray for God to give you the desire to want to want to and then open your Bible and start reading. You know what you need to do; do it. Paul told the Corinthian brethren, “Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so.” Want to want to; have the desire.


“Taste and see that the Lord is good” and you will keep tasting. Pray this prayer from Psalm 119:18, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law,” and then open your eyes to see them.


The word water is not wet; you have to experience it to know what it is. Faith is the same way. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness brings you closer to Christ, who is the word that became flesh – the same word that creates faith. Being filled with righteousness, being filled with Christ, being filled with the word of God go hand-in-hand. But you have to experience it to really know it.


God does not demand perfection; he demands faithfulness. If I want to be faith-ful I must be in the word to let Jesus fill my hunger and thirst for righteousness – His righteousness. He is the perfection I could never be.


There is only one thing that’s needed: to sit at Jesus’ feet – the feet that were nailed, the blood that was spilled, that became the bread and the wine that enabled me to have his righteousness. This is what I hunger and thirst for.