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!

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