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TRUE HAPPINESS IN CHRIST: HUNGER AND THIRST AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS
SATURDAY, JULY 8
Romans 3:19-31

Matthew 5:6

 

“Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness:

for they shall be filled.”

 

TRUE HAPPINESS IN CHRIST:
HUNGER AND THIRST AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS
 
The fourth blessing is for those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. This is not human righteousness but divine righteousness or the righteousness of God by faith in Christ Jesus (Rom 3:22). The Pharisees tried their best to keep the law with their extra rules and traditions of men in order to establish their own righteousness. Sadly, their good works were only external, and the Lord Jesus rebuked them as hypocrites (Matt 23). Jesus tells a parable about a Pharisee who trusted in himself that he was righteous and despised others. He stood and prayed to God, boasting of his good works, while the tax collector humbly pleaded for mercy, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” but Jesus says that this tax collector is justified rather than the Pharisee, “for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 18:9- 14).
 
To hunger and thirst after righteousness means to have a strong desire for a right stand before God, a right relationship with God. We are to acknowledge our sins and our unrighteousness, then humbly come to the Lord Jesus in repentance and hide ourselves in His righteousness (2 Cor 5:21). Thank God for accepting us in Christ (Eph 1:6), and “of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Cor 1:30- 31). Jesus Christ is our righteousness before God!
 
Moreover, to have a right relationship with God, we are to live according to His will. This means we are to read His Word and thirst for His Word as a newborn baby thirsts for milk (1 Pet 2:2) so that we may know God’s will and do God’s will through Jesus Christ our Lord, who strengthens us (Phil 4:13).
 
THOUGHT: Only in Christ and His righteousness am I acceptable unto God.

PRAYER: Father, please help me seek Thee and Thy righteousness first.

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