Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Mat 5:6
Righteousness is a foundational theme in the scriptures. In fact, the pursuit of righteousness is identified as a top priority by the Lord (Mat 6:33). In the age to come, in the fullness of God’s Kingdom, it is only the righteous who will enter into the inheritance promised by God. The rest are by definition, the wicked. The destiny of the wicked is the lake of fire. This makes righteousness of primary importance.
The righteousness referred to by Jesus is the righteousness of God. Our self righteousness is insufficient. We see self righteousness in our culture today manifested as a variety of political causes – social justice. Various groups and even organizations fall all over themselves to make sure they are signaling the virtues acceptable to the culture. The same was true in the days of Jesus. The ones who defined the “acceptable virtues” were the Pharisees who had religious control of the people. If you fell into line, you were righteous. If you were not in accordance with the righteousness as defined by the religious leadership of the day, then you were “cancelled”.
Jesus told people that unless they exceeded the righteousness of the Pharisees that they would not enter the Kingdom of God (Mat 5:20). He said this within earshot of the Pharisees. They plotted against Him and ultimately instigated a mob that called for His execution on a cross at the hands of the government. Self righteousness that leads to social virtues authenticated by a mob mentality and an evil government, with “cancellation” of anyone who opposes them. Sound familiar? What do we see in our culture today? And yet none of this “group think”, self authenticating, Twitter advanced “righteousness” has anything to do with the righteousness of God. Its empty, hateful, meaningless.
The only way to attain the righteousness of God is by faith in Jesus Christ. We cannot attain God’s righteousness ourselves, for this is not possible. He gives it to us on the basis of faith. In the moment of true faith and repentance, we are declared “righteous” in the sight of God. Complete trust in Jesus Christ gets us the righteousness of God – a righteousness that is not our own but from Him and is by faith in the Son of God (Romans 3:21-26).
So then, we receive His righteousness and then in our salvation, which is by faith, we walk the path of righteousness for His name’s sake (Psalm 23:3).
What are you hungry for? Are you thirsty? Does what you feed on bring satisfaction in your soul? Or are you empty. Do you find the culture unsatisfying? Are you tired of the poison on social media and the political talking points? They are not satisfying are they. In fact they drain the life out of your spirit and leave you weak and hungry – the more you partake of the culture, the greater the emptiness, the darkness, the confusion. Am I right?
Jesus once told a woman at a well: “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” The life that Jesus gives will burst forth like an artesian well. So much life that it overflows. Or again in the Book of Revelation: “Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.” Its free. All you have to do is go to the source and take that which He offers you without cost. Jesus is our righteousness. The culture will only give you death, darkness, emptiness. Stop filling yourself with emptiness. If you hunger and thirst for righteousness you shall be satisfied.
