INTIMATE WITH GOD

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." Matthew 5:6 (CSB)

We ended yesterday with this thought – “You are what you eat.”

So, did you think about the question – “What have you been hungering for?”

What we put in is what will come out.

So, that "something" that we are to be desperate for, is righteousness. What exactly is Jesus talking about? What does he mean by “righteousness?”

Well, the word Jesus uses here can have a couple of meanings, one I would think is a secondary definition and one a primary one but both have relevance.

The first definition for this word righteousness would mean right living or living rightly. In the Greek culture, the word Jesus used here, described a man who constantly observed his duty to the gods and to men. It was a word of passion... passion to do the right thing no matter what. It describes someone who will take great risk, even do what some might think wrong or crazy in order to keep the wrong thing from happening.

The second and I think the primary meaning of "righteousness" is one that we do not think about often and it is this meaning that we so desperately need. For "dikaisoune" the Greek word for righteousness that Jesus uses here has to do with more than doing the right thing but rather emphasizes having a right relationship. We are to be intensely longing for a relationship with Him.

The verb form of the word means, "to justify." It means to recognize that God has justified us, or accepted us into a relationship with Him even though we do not deserve such a relationship. This new relationship was offered at the cross, where Jesus sacrificed himself for our sin.

You see as long as you see your relationship to Jesus just as a commitment of obligation, as just doing the right thing, living a life of duty, you will never find the satisfaction that is promised here.

Jesus doesn’t just want right living, He desires a right relationship. In fact, He desires a right relationship over right living.  Why?  Because when the relationship is right, then life will be right.

The problem with only looking at doing the right thing is - when we fail we see God as a stern lawgiver. And as long as we think of God as the stern lawgiver, there can be nothing between us but distance, estrangement, and fear. But once we know God is ready to accept us and to love us and to forgive us just as we are, the distance is replaced by intimacy, the estrangement by love and the fear by a grateful trust.

Do you long, passionately, desperately, intensely for a right relationship with Jesus? And God has always, always emphasized intimacy with him over just obedience to rules.
 

Hungering and Thirsting is a strong passionate desire for our intimacy with God.

Are you hungry yet?