More! More! More!

Matthew 5:6 (KJV)    Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
  
 They tell us that we are what we eat.  If we spend our days eating donuts and pastries we will become a big cream puff.  If we eat greasy food our arteries become clogged drains.  This line of thinking is even truer when we speak of spiritual matters.  If you feed your mind and soul on violence, excitement, erotica, and materialism your life will soon personify them.  You will become what you eat.  But those that hunger and thirst for righteousness will become more and more like Jesus. 
     The word “righteousness” is used seven times by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.  It is from the repeated usage of the word in Christ’s discourse that we can define His intended meaning.  We are to hunger and thirst for “righteous living” and to passionately desire to do God’s will and live in obedience to Him, to see righteousness prevail in this world.  We must be aware of a growing need for God and desire to be like Him not just in a superficial way but deep in our souls we must long to reflect His character and bring forth much fruit, the fruit that only the Holy Spirit can offer. 
     The Psalmist gives us an ideal example of this hunger in his writing as he pens the cry of his soul.  “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is”  Psalm 63:1.  In Jesus’ day there was no indoor plumbing or mini-mart only wells and rivers.  The land was arid and dry and the possibility of dehydration was a very real possibility if you were far from a source of water.  Israelites knew exactly what it was like to be in a dry and thirsty land and long for life giving water.  It was a matter of life and death.  This is the way we must hunger and thirst for righteousness always hungering, always thirsting, never having enough of God’s Spirit, never satisfied or filled but constantly seeking as if our life depended on it.
     It is in our hunger and thirst that we will be filled and as we are filled we become more like what we eat and drink.  More like Jesus!