Jesus 101: A Healthy Appetite


When you're hungry, all you can think about is food.  When you're thirsty, all you can think about is water.  That's because these are our most basic needs.  If we don't have them, we die.

In his fourth beatitude, Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness."  Blessed are those who deeply long for righteousness.

The Greek word Jesus used for "righteousness" comes from a root that refers to a standard, like a plumb line.  If a builder held a plumb line against a wall and the wall matched its straightness, it was righteous.  

Biblical writers used "righteousness" in the context of relationships.  Relationships bring standards or expectations with them.  When we get married, we make vows to each other.  When we fulfill our vows, we're righteous.  If we don't, we're unrighteous.

Our most important relationship is with God.  When we meet the demands of our relationship with him, we're righteous in his eyes.

What does God want from us in our relationships with him?  Genesis 15:5-6 says that Abram had faith in God, and God credited it to him as righteousness.  The first thing God requires of us is faith, to believe with all we are that he's real, that he loves us as we are, and that he's working in the world in our lives.  

From that faith comes obedience to his commands.  The Bible's books of the law record many of those commands.  But Jesus summed them all up in two: Love God with all you are, and love your neighbor as yourself!

But we can't even keep those commands.  That's why God sent his Unique Son Jesus Christ to die on a cross and rise again.  In Romans 3:21-24, the apostle Paul wrote that God declares us righteous through our faith in Christ.  This brings us full circle back to Abram in Genesis!

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed because they will be filled.  God never promises material goodies for the righteous.  Instead, he promises that they will attain what they seek: righteousness.

Through that righteousness we receive something far more important than anything else: the Kingdom!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God's Dynamite: The Battle Within

Image
"It was on fire when I lay down on it."  Robert Fulghum wrote about reading this statement in a small town newspaper.   Smoke was billowing from a second story window.  The Fire Department arrived, broke down the front door, ran up a set of stairs, and pulled a man off a burning bed.  Later, when they asked him how he got in that predicament, he said, "It was on fire when I lay down on it." Why on earth did he do that?  We don't know, but his story reveals a human truth.  We often do self-destructive things.  We testify, "People told me not to do it, but I did it anyway."  "I knew it was wrong, but I did it." The apostle Paul wrote about our human propensity to sin and self-destructive behavior in Romans 7:14-25.  Verse 15 sums up his point, "I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do and what I hate I do."   He describes an intense inner battle.  On one side is the "flesh," his
Read more

God's Dynamite: More than Conquerors

Image
One person goes through a terrible experience and emerges from it stronger, more mature, and more loving.  Another goes through a similar experience and emerges from it weaker, less mature, and bitter.   What's the difference? I think it has to do with what's in the person's heart.  It has to do with his or her faith and perspective of life.   In Romans 8:35-39, the apostle Paul asked, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?''  Is there any person or place or experience that can remove us from Christ's loving presence?  Trouble? Hardship? Danger?  Sword? Paul could answer this question because he experienced all the above and more.  He said, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."  We conquer all these things through Christ's love for us. To be sure, we can have times when Christ's love seems far away from us. In the depths of suffering in times like these, we can won
Read more

God's Dynamite: Resurrection Transformation

Image
Easter is about more than you going to heaven.  That's part of it, but not near all!  It's about your death and resurrection. In Romans 6, Paul was answering opponents.  Those opponents said that if salvation is by God's grace through faith, then you have no motivation for righteous living and good works.  Why not sin more to get more grace? Paul answered by using the image of baptism.  He said when the pastor plunged you under water, he symbolized your death in Christ.  Through faith you died on the cross with Jesus.  Your old self was a slave to sin and rebellion against God.   Paul said when the pastor raised you up from the water, he symbolized your resurrection in Christ.  Not just in the future but in the present.  In faith, you identify with Jesus' death and his resurrection.  You're raised to a new life, free from slavery to sin. So Easter is about more than personal salvation.  It's about transformation: dying to an old life and ris
Read more