Hungering and…

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. – Matthew 5:6

Imagine you receive an invitation for a reception that will be catered by one of your favorite restaurants.  The invitation states that the program starts at 6PM and the food will be served at 6:30PM.  When you arrive at the reception, the MC announces that the food is delayed due to an unforeseen circumstance, and as a result, there will be an adjustment to the program; instead of serving the food first followed by a presentation, the program will begin with a presentation first and the food will be served 2 hours later.  Since you expected to eat at 6:30pm, you were careful not to spoil your appetite so you did not eat anything before you got there.  At this point what will you hunger and thirst for; the presentation or the food?

In Matthew 4:1-4, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, He finds Himself hungry and the devil comes to tempt Him saying, “If you are the Son of God command these stones to become bread.”  Jesus responds by saying “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”  Jesus was more thirsty and hungry for the righteousness of God.  Throughout His ministry, He demonstrated a commitment for God’s will to be done in every circumstance.  In times of pressure and temptation He allowed, not His will, but the will of God to be done.

What are you hungering and thirsting for?  What is that thing you want so badly that you would give up everything to attain?  Are you hungering and thirsting after power and material things or the righteousness of God?

Whatever you hunger and thirst for is what you will eventually get.  Esau’s hunger and thirst was after food and it cost him his birthright.   David’s son, Amnon, hungered and thirst after his half-sister, Tamar,which led him to rape her and cost him his life.

Thirsting and hungering after righteousness is to crave or have a strong desire for the justice of God.  This desire leads us to cultivate a lifestyle of prayer and study of the Word of God.  It also challenges us to deny everything that is less satisfying and contrary to the will of God.  God calls us to hunger and thirst after His righteousness because it is the only thing that can fulfill us.  Food will only keep us for a moment, power will produce pride, money will cultivate greed, and water will soon cause us to thirst again.  While the Bread of Life, and the Living Water will cause us never to be hungry or thirsty again.

What are you hungering and thirsting for?  Whatever it is you may get it, but will it satisfy you?  God calls us to hunger and thirst after His righteousness and He guarantees us that we will be filled and never thirst again.

What do you spend most of your time thinking and working towards?  Unfortunately for us entrepreneurs, it is easy to spend most of our time thinking about money and the business rather than thinking about the One who has the power to give money and grow the business.  I like the challenge that my friend Glenn Repple of G.A Repple and Company gives us each day in his daily devotional, “we must spend time building a proactive relationship with the Lord.”  In other words, we must demonstrate our hunger and thirst for God by spending time in prayer and study of His Word each day,