Day 36 · Week 6
Passage: Matthew 5:6; Psalm 42:1–2
Memory Verse: Matthew 5:6
Matthew 5:6 (KJV)
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
Hunger and thirst are difficult to ignore.
When we are truly hungry, food becomes more important than many things that seemed important a few hours earlier. When we are thirsty, our bodies remind us that water is not optional.
Jesus uses those powerful desires to describe the way His disciples should long for righteousness.
Righteousness is more than looking respectable or following a list of religious rules. It includes being right with God and having a life brought into harmony with His character and will.
That means Jesus is describing someone who does not merely say, “I suppose I should be a better person.” This person longs for God to make things right—in the world and in the heart.
We cannot create that righteousness by ourselves. The previous Beatitudes have already taught us to recognize our spiritual poverty and dependence upon God.
But recognizing our need should produce desire. We begin to say, “Lord, I do not want to remain as I am. I want what You want. I want You to change me.”
And Jesus attaches a promise to that hunger: “they shall be filled.”
God does not awaken a genuine hunger for righteousness merely to leave us empty.
What do hunger and thirst teach us about the kind of desire Jesus wants us to have for righteousness?
What do my choices show that I hunger for most?
Ask God to create in your family a genuine desire to know Him, to be right with Him, and to live according to His will.