...who hunger and thirst after righteousness

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

A few weeks ago I submitted an article in THE CLASSICS by C. S. Lewis called Giving All to Christ. As the title suggests, this article addresses how much of myself do I give to Christ. Under the sub-title “Listening to That Other Voice” Lewis says:



“…the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and fretting; coming in out of the wind.”



And then he adds the paragraph that I ended with in THE CLASSICS that contains what I consider to be the most important sentence.



“We can only do it for moments at first. But from those moments the new sort of life will be spreading through our system: because now we are letting Him work at the right part of us. It is the difference between paint, which is merely laid on the surface, and a dye or stain which soaks right through.”



Lewis calls this transformation a “new sort of life…spreading through our system” – “the right part of us.” It’s here that I think the understanding – the real grasping – of the beatitudes takes place. It’s a new sort of life, spreading through our system – the right part of us.


After studying the beatitudes over the past few weeks, I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason many Christians never mature is because they never start out empty. They are so full of themselves there’s no room left for God. Hunger and thirst require emptiness –like “poor in spirit.” Man goes from poverty of spirit, to mourning, to meekness to hungering and thirsting after righteousness; it’s just a natural progression. And the righteousness that fills me is not my own, it’s Jesus’. Why? Because I (big I) am poor in spirit. I am the beggar to whom Christ gave it all. My righteous acts (my very best acts) are but filthy rags. Remember?




When I realize that Jesus’ righteousness fills me, an empty shell, then I am filled with HIS righteousness. His righteousness is not merely laid on the surface like paint, he stains me or soaks me from the inside out. Why? Because that’s where HE lives now, not me.




Poor people hunger and thirst after that which sustains them; we normally call it “bread and water” i.e. the bare necessities; clothes and shelter would be included. This is what man needs to barely exist. It’s what Jesus says “the ones on his right” give, come judgment.


“I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Matthew 25:35, 36




This is a description of someone who knows what it means to hunger and thirst -- who we call poor.



The poor are filled by the righteous who are filled with Christ. The more Christ fills us the more we have to give, which creates more emptiness that Christ can fill again. And the cycle continues.




TO HUNGER: a) to suffer want b) to be needy. Metaphorically, to crave ardently, to seek with eager desire.




TO THIRST: to suffer thirst. a) figuratively, those who are said to thirst who painfully feel their want of, and eagerly long for, those things by which the soul is refreshed, supported, strengthened.




I know of few people who hunger and thirst as described above, physically, and even less who hunger and thirst spiritually. But they are the ones Jesus calls blessed.




What does hungering and thirsting after righteousness look like? David in Psalm 42 tells us:




“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirst for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God.
My tears have been my food day and night.”


Have you ever cried due to your hunger and thirst for God? Isaiah says:


“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters…and your soul will delight in the riches of fare.”


Jesus tells the woman at the well:


“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”


And finally in Revelation Jesus says:


“To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.”
“Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”


Why do people hunger and thirst after fame, fortune, worldly success that costs them their life, when they could hunger and thirst after righteousness that costs them nothing -- the FREE gift of the water of life?


Recently, my mother-in-law’s husband was hospitalized with pancreatitis, a very painful, debilitating illness for anyone, but especially a man who’s 88 years old. He had pain that was unbearable and all the other symptoms that go with it; you know if you’ve ever had it; it’s terrible. Anyway, one of the worst parts about it was for four days he was forbidden anything including water. My mother-in-law said all he could do was ask for water. He begged for water, but couldn’t have any. Such a normal, usual thing we take for granted – a “thing” that is life-giving, life-changing, REQUIRED to sustain life – Alton begged for.




Beggars hunger and thirst. Beggars beg. If I do not see myself before God as a beggar, I have no reason to hunger and thirst after righteousness – a righteousness not my own, but a righteousness only He can give.