Have you ever been hungry? I mean – really hungry? I mean so hungry that you can’t think about anything else? The Bible says in Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.”
What does it mean to hunger and thirst for righteousness? Before we talk about what it means, lets take a few moments to look at what it does not mean. It is not about gratifying lust, accomplishing goals or satisfying ego. Now stop for just a moment to realize and admit that this is exactly where we expend most of our energy on most days. We have some lust that we are trying to gratify, some goal that we are trying to accomplish or an ego that we want to satisfy. And the big problem is that day after day we give ourselves to the pursuit of gratification, accomplishment or satisfaction only to come up short and still looking for the something that is missing! Come on and admit it – a lot of days we feel like a rat running on a spinning wheel inside of a wire cage!
God has something better! He wants to provide us with satisfaction, but it requires something on our part. It requires that we be hungry and thirsty. A hungry/thirsty person has an all-consuming passion for food and drink and that is it – nothing els matters! A spiritually hungry person has an all-consuming passion for the right stuff of God and everything else is icing on the cake. A spiritually hungry person is a person who has come to the realization that nothing else in life will do, if I don’t pursue God and His plan of blessing for my life.
What are you hungry and thirsty for today? Be honest with yourself and with God. You may not be hungry and thirsty for the righteousness of God and that is okay if you will admit and do something about it. If you are not really hungry and thirsty for the right stuff of God, then take some time to ask God to help you to get hungry and thirsty. Seriously – take some time right now to ask God to help you to be hungry for more of Him. Pray this prayer: “God help me to be hungry and thirsty for you!” Keep praying this prayer all day long!
Join me back here tomorrow and we will take a look at three steps that we must take to hunger and thirst for righteousness! We can do this!
Michael Joe Harvell 
It’s kind of strange being hungry for the righteousness of God when all we have to do is feed. It might be getting older that does this to me, but I’ve never been so hungry for His righteous purpose in my life. Every day I wake up with the fear some one that might cross my path this day could die and go to hell because I didn’t let them know about Christ the Savior. How can we be “Christian’s” and not hunger for and seek after the pureness of His righteous ways and be counted as a believer. I heard it put like this before, if we were being tried in court for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict us? Depending on what period of time the pick I might get off free as a jay bird, and that’s not a good thing. Like I said it’s strange that we can be so hungry so badly for something that is right there in front us for the asking. The Father part of God knows me and loves me so much that I don’t and should never want for anything. He has always and will continue to provide for my every need. That gives me the freedom to go after the things I have passion for. With the help and support of a church that loves me and the exhaustive constant care of my Pastor who guides me through my scrambled thoughts, I can’t help but to be hungry for more and grow my passion for the righteous things in life. I have such a burden for the unsaved that I often weep over my lack of being as effective as I could be. I think of it this way, if I don’t desperately hunger for the righteousness of my God and Father, I may be helping someone who is not saved spend eternity in hell. Can you imagine what it would be like answering to Jesus why I couldn’t do all that I could to help others? I think about that from time to time and it often stops me cold in my tracks. Hungering for the richness of His wisdom will allow me to be the man my God Father told me I could be. By the way Jim looks good!