“You are what you eat.” Nutritionists tell us that our appetites determine our diet, our diet determines our intake, and our intake determines our health.

“You are what you eat” applies in the spiritual realm as well. Jesus challenges us to look at our spiritual appetite with the penetrating words of the Fourth Beatitude: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).

In this simple sentence, Jesus tells us that our hunger determines our spiritual health. To grasp its meaning for us, we need to explore three key principles.

The first principle is that if we want to fully understand the Fourth Beatitude, we need to know what Jesus means by the term righteousness. The word occurs only once in the other four gospels. However, it occurs seven times in Matthew’s gospel, including five times in the Sermon on the Mount. The word is a mystery to us. We know it has something to do with being right and doing right, but that’s about it.

Whenever you come upon a term in the Bible you don’t understand, it’s always helpful to look at other passages of Scripture that may shed light on it. With that in mind, let’s look at four other uses of this word in the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness” (Matt. 5:10). That’s the eighth and final beatitude. Taking the fourth and eighth beatitudes together, we get something like this: We are to hunger and to thirst after a kind of life that will cause some people to persecute us for our faith. So, righteousness is a lifestyle that distinguishes us as true Christians and invites opposition from the world.

In the second use Jesus said, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:20). The Pharisees had concocted a religious system built around attendance at the temple. It involved intricate rules and regulations and meant following precepts and traditions. It was very professional and very routine. It was like wearing cheap perfume that you splash on to make yourself smell good. It’s not really a part of you and it can’t cover the odor underneath. True righteousness starts in the heart and changes a person from the inside out. Remember this point!

In the third use of this word, Jesus said: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (Matt. 6:1). The Pharisees loved to pray in public – loudly! They loved to dress up in their religious garb and throw their offering in the metal container so people could hear the coins rattle. They would sacrifice anything to win the praise of others. Their religion was built on the praise of men. And they still thought God would reward them. But it was cotton-candy religion. It looked good but there wasn’t any substance there. Like Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard, there was nothing there. By contrast, true disciples seek a righteousness that doesn’t need to be seen by others, but only by God.

Most of us already know the fourth occurrence by heart: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you” (Matthew 6:33). This touches the priorities of life. What is it that you are seeking in life? Fame? Fortune? Career advancement? A good salary? A secure future? A happy retirement? A marriage partner? The fulfillment of your dreams? As good as those things may be, they aren’t the most important things in life. Put God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness first. When you do, everything else you need will be given to you. Seeking “his righteousness” means letting his Word set the standard for your life. It means seeking to do that which is pleasing to him.

Put these four passages together and what do you have? We are to hunger and thirst after:

A truly Christian lifestyle … that changes us from the inside out … so that we no longer seek the praise of men … but causes us to seek God’s approval above everything else.

This kind of life is possible for all of us. In fact, Jesus plainly says that anyone who lives this way is blessed by God. Sounds good, doesn’t it? So why don’t we all live this way? That question leads us directly to the second important principle.

 

The next principle is the power of hunger.

David Divoky
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