Our Deepest Desire
Take Time, Part 1
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“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
–Matthew 5:6
–Matthew 5:6
What does it mean to “hunger and thirst for righteousness?” Our bodies need food and water to survive. God designed hunger and thirst to be mechanisms that alert our minds to the reality that in order to continue, we need to eat and drink! Thankfully, most of us rarely experience the pain of hunger that lasts more than a few hours, or the feeling of desperation from being truly parched. Even still, how refreshingly sweet is a tall glass of ice cold water when we are thirsty?
However, when we experience hunger and thirst, rather than addressing those needs with things that truly satisfy us, we often settle for cheap substitutes that don’t get the job done. For example, if we’re dehydrated, we need water. If instead we drink tea or coffee, which may temporarily quench our thirst but are actually diuretics that rid our bodies of water, it leaves us thirstier than when we started.
In the same way, our souls were designed for righteousness, for relationship with God, to live life how He designed it! On this side of eternity, we all experience a spiritual hunger and thirst in addition to our physical ones. However, rather than running to the only thing that will sate those needs, we turn to cheap substitutes that over promise and under deliver.
Instead of drinking from the fountain of living water, we attempt to fill our cups with power and money. Instead of eating the bread of life at the Father’s table, we settle for the cheap and temporary satisfaction of lust and pleasure. Instead of trusting in our Creator to give us a full and abundant life, we look to the things of this world to fill a need that they were never designed to fill.
However, when we experience hunger and thirst, rather than addressing those needs with things that truly satisfy us, we often settle for cheap substitutes that don’t get the job done. For example, if we’re dehydrated, we need water. If instead we drink tea or coffee, which may temporarily quench our thirst but are actually diuretics that rid our bodies of water, it leaves us thirstier than when we started.
In the same way, our souls were designed for righteousness, for relationship with God, to live life how He designed it! On this side of eternity, we all experience a spiritual hunger and thirst in addition to our physical ones. However, rather than running to the only thing that will sate those needs, we turn to cheap substitutes that over promise and under deliver.
Instead of drinking from the fountain of living water, we attempt to fill our cups with power and money. Instead of eating the bread of life at the Father’s table, we settle for the cheap and temporary satisfaction of lust and pleasure. Instead of trusting in our Creator to give us a full and abundant life, we look to the things of this world to fill a need that they were never designed to fill.
| When we realize our spiritual needs can only be met by God, we begin to hunger and thirst for His righteousness. |
When we realize that our deep spiritual needs can only be met by God, we begin to truly hunger and thirst for His righteousness. And even if it doesn’t seem like it, that is a great place to be, because those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed, for they will be filled.
Pray that God gives you a hunger and thirst for righteousness. Pray that just as David’s soul longed for the true and living God, so will yours.
Pray that God gives you a hunger and thirst for righteousness. Pray that just as David’s soul longed for the true and living God, so will yours.
"The deepest longing of the human heart is to know and enjoy the glory of God. We were made for this."
–John Piper
–John Piper
Author: Andrew Archer, Student Ministry Director
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