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Hunger for Righteousness
Nov 4, 06:29 PM
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew Matthew 5:6
When it says, “hunger,” I want you to know that this is no ordinary hunger, like when we have a temporary nagging desire because we are late on a meal. It isn’t the kind of passing fancy we might experience when we want something and dream of how nice it might be if we were to acquire it. No, this hunger is deeper than that. It is as if one were famished. No – even more than that. It is a yearning that permeates every fiber of your being. This kind of hunger cannot be manufactured simply by the strength of your own will. I am not sure a person can simply decide to be that hungry. Perhaps that kind of hunger only arises in the life that has nothing else with which to dull it. It’s hard to hunger when you have everything you need.
John Wesley reminds us that when one is hungry for God, nothing else can satisfy. How very unsettling and frustrating it is when your body craves nutritious food and you fill it with junk. It is the same with the hunger for righteousness – we can find comfort in nothing but that which God supplies. The prophet asks the question, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not food and labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen to me and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” (Isaiah 55:2)
Hunger and thirst are not the pinnacles of hunan need, they are the most basic to life itself. The promise of Jesus is that those who walk in this type of hunger will be filled. They will be satisfied to the full.
The righteousness described by Jesus is both internal and external.
The goodness of God begins on the inside and then shows up on the outside. Jesus continually reminds us of the difference between religious ceremonial observance and genuine uprightness that arises from the soul. We are not called to a putrid self-righteousness that seems to infect so many religious people. It is not the mere moralism that is so often inflicted on others by misguided spiritual zealots. E. Stanley Jones once said, “Nothing is more beautiful than righteousness; nothing is more hideous than self-righteousness.”
One can appear upright on the outside and inwardly be like a ravenous wolf. One can seem to be good on the outside but inwardly have all kinds of meanness in them. Therefore, true moral goodness begins with purity of heart and mind. Religion tries to change a person from the outside in. It tries to change a person’s dress, or speech, or behavior first. But God works from the inside out, effecting first a change of heart.
But a change of heart is not enough. James reminds us that faith, as long as it is locked up in the private confines of the heart is not faith at all. It does not become complete until it shows up in the way we live. When Jesus said that our righteousness had to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, He wasn’t telling us to be more religious. He was telling us that our goodness has to be more than a mere show. It has to be real on the inside and evident on the outside.
The righteousness referred to by Jesus is both individual and social.
We are not alone in this quest. It is not simply a personal place of blessedness that we seek. If that were the case, we could be righteous alone, at home, locked in our own closet. The righteousness of God has social implications. How can we say we have love for people in our heart and not want for them what we want for ourselves? Our desire is not for us alone, but that righteousness might characterize the lives of others as well. Do not be mistaken. The one who is drawn by this vision of goodness does not say in pompous religious arrogance, “Oh how I wish you could share in the righteous living I have found.” On the contrary, this is the person who, in humility, prays and acts for goodness and justice to surround the lives of all people that they too might share in its happiness. This righteous motivation has as its core the profound belief that I am not free until my brother or sister is free. This is the kind of right-ness which believes it is not right for me until it is right for all others.
It is an active righteousness.
It is easy to reduce righteousness to a feeling. We often do that with love. Love is a verb. It encompasses both internal feeling and outward action. It finds its fulfillment in the action of extended kindness, forgiveness, and help for the suffering and needy. So it is with righteousness. It is more than a feeling. It certainly begins with an inner disposition of the heart, but it finds its fulfillment in behavior and action.
The culmination of righteousness is love. Biblical love is not a mere feeling, but selfless, sacrificial action on behalf of another. Wesley once said, “Righteousness springs forth from, and ends in love for God as our Father and redeemer. It also includes love for all others for the sake of Christ.”