The Fourth Beatitude: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5: 6

What do you hunger for in life? What is righteousness? That which is upright, noble, morally right and ethical. It’s a lifestyle in complete conformity to the will of God.Are you righteous?  What does the bible tell us?

Romans 3: 11 there is no one who understands;

       there is no one who seeks God.

    12 All have turned away,

       they have together become worthless;

       there is no one who does good,

       not even one."

    13 "Their throats are open graves;

       their tongues practice deceit."

       "The poison of vipers is on their lips."

    14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."

    15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood;

    16 ruin and misery mark their ways,

    17 and the way of peace they do not know."

    18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Do you lie? Even white lies? Do you gossip behind people’s backs? Do you swear? Do you wish the worst for your enemies?

Or do we think we’re righteous because we go to church or Sunday school or celebrate Christmas and Easter or donate to charity as passionate philanthropists? Can these things save us? Are our motives right?

Luke 18: 9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' 13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

    14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

So how do can we be made righteous?

Romans 3: 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Romans 6: 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

How do we know what’s right?

God has given us the bible, Holy Spirit and conscience to remind us constantly not to sin. That’s why when a believer sins it’s painful and brings them great sorrow – this is linked to second beatitude (blessed are those who mourn).

Matthew 6: 22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

Do you watch things in movies or on the internet that you shouldn’t? Do you love your sports or computer games or television more than you love God? Do you serve God or your own interests?

Hunger and thirst are appetites that return frequently and they require that they be met often during the day. Similarly the true believer calls for constant meals of righteousness to do his daily Godly work, just as the living body calls for its daily food. When a believer hungers and thirsts after righteousness he becomes a new man and this new man greatly desires to do the will of God for he now has great interest in Christ and all that Christ said and promised.

The child of God not only has an earnest desire to fervently seek righteousness and thus lead a Godly life on a second to second basis, but wants to be possessed by righteousness, wants to constantly live in it, to be totally absorbed into it, to be completely saturated in righteousness,  that this way of life is the Godly way of life. And a righteous life is what also fills us with peace and joy. And because of spiritual enlightenment we realize that nothing can be more perfect, more pure, and more pleasing to Our Heavenly Father then living a life that he totally approves of.

Being filled by doing right is like eating a delicious dessert. You’ll want to try it again because it is so good!

John 6: 35 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.