Desire

 Matthew 5:6 ESV

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.


What we hunger and thirst for says a lot about us. Of course, as humans, we literally hunger and thirst. Yet there are many other things we could long for.

Humanity is sociable, so we may long for company if we're lonely. Many of us are sexual, so we might long for sex (hopefully with our heterosexual, monogamous marriage partners for life). Here, Jesus refers to the greatest desire we can have.

The greatest desire we can have is to long to be righteous. That sounds religious, but it's basically to be Christlike. To be like Christ is the greatest thing we could be.

Jesus gives us a wonderful promise, that if we long for righteousness, we will be satisfied. As CS Lewis said, if we have a desire this world can't satisfy, we can infer that we were made for another world. We were made to know and to enjoy fellowship with Jesus for eternity.

'Dear Abba God, may we desire righteousness, and may you satisfy us. In Christ's name we pray, amen'.

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