Scripture

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.

~Matthew 5:6, KJV

Quote

If every human being on the planet knew what it was like to hunger and thirst for righteousness, our major problems would be solved.

~Martyn Lloyd Jones {Sermon on the Mount, p.61}

There is abundant life in the words of Jesus. Everyone on the planet wants to be blessed or happy. Happiness is what we wish for but unfortunately, we pursue it the wrong way. Most people read this verse and see it in reverse; they make blessedness the object. People who hunger and thirst for happiness are not happy. Matter of fact, the more we pursue happiness as our goal, the more miserable we become. Don’t misunderstand what Jesus is saying: “Righteousness” is our pursuit. Jones says that righteousness is being right with God. We are in pursuit of Jesus’ righteousness: the same righteousness that justifies us.

Those who are hungering for righteousness are sick of themselves, sin, the flesh and the failure that comes with walking in the flesh. We desire something more, something better; we want to please Christ and be right with Him. Matter of fact, our supreme desire is to be like Christ. I had never thought about it until coming across it in Jones book, but the prodigal son is a perfect example of a person who hungers for righteousness. We know he was hungry for food because he was tempted to eat with the hogs and hogs will eat anything, but he had a deeper hunger. First of all, he was tired of sin and rebellion and he had a deep longing to return to his father. He was not going back to his father to be blessed; he was going back to serve him. His entire attitude had changed: he left home because he did not want to serve his father. The by product of his repentance lead to joy unspeakable, but his goal or aim was not the blessedness or the joy–his aim was to be in fellowship with his father. He wanted to be near him, to serve him and to honor him.

When we get to the place that it is not about us and our happiness but about Jesus our Master and our desire is not for Him to bless us, but for us to be a blessing to Him by serving Him, obeying Him, honoring Him, we will find joy and happiness. As long as we make it about ourselves, there will be perpetual misery. Once we flip the switch and make it about Jesus by denying ourselves we experience joy. I can take you to countless people who have made happiness their pursuit and yuet they are miserable. There is no joy a part from Jesus. There is no way that God can give us joy apart from His Son.

Extra

Agenda for today is simple: get my devotions done, clean the messy office and meet with the tech at 9:30 here at Eastern Gate Headquarters. I have books everywhere. The kids have games tonight at Clements and I hope to work a little at the compound. June and I got quite a bit done last night. Landon had his friends there watching the Alabama debacle and they helped me do some heavy lifting. Big Mama sold the cabinet that our TV sat on so now we have a TV resting on the floor. It is not as bad as you think. She has taken down all her Christmas decor and put nothing back in its place. She is packing daily we me telling her at least one time a day…We are not moving tomorrow…I am telling, when the time comes, she will be ready.

I am pretty sure we are going to share a word of testimony Sunday morning about our goals for 2026. I hope you have a great weekend and thanks for reading the blog.