Ernest Smith

As I was praying about starting this blog series, I was seeking God’s wisdom on the first step that needs to be taken if someone is going to grow spiritually.  Immediately, Matthew 5:6 came to mind.  It reads, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Jesus is teaching his disciples a way to live life and one way that he encourages us to live is to hunger and thirst for righteousness.    The Greek word for righteousness is dikaiosyne and it simply means the condition acceptable to God.  This is what we all yearn for.

Whether you are a Christ-follower, or far from God, ultimately, every person’s yearning is to be in a condition that is acceptable to God.  That is why people seek religion.  That is why people seek to be good.  That is why people seek to know God.  We want to be in a condition that is acceptable to God.

Well, Matthew 5:6 states that if we hunger and thirst for righteousness, for that condition acceptable to God, then we will be satisfied.  It doesn’t say might.  It doesn’t say could be.  It says “for they shall be satisfied.”  That is a guarantee…a promise.

So how do you do that?  How do you hunger and thirst for righteousness?  Well, if you are like myself, you probably find yourself in highs and lows spiritually.  I have found myself at one point in life living on the top of Mount Zion, worshipping the Lord and feeling as if my relationship with God could never get better and then just a few months later, I could be in the valley of the shadow of death wondering where God went and how I fell so quickly.

I remember when I was first starting my journey as a Christ-follower and nothing could stop me.  I was on cloud nine all the time.  I was making major changes in my life.  I felt like storming hell with a water pistol.  You know the feeling?

Then, gradually, but almost as if it happened over night, I felt myself in a place where I couldn’t sense the presence of the Lord any more.  I was seeking that spiritual high that I once had.  I was seeking that feeling I got when the worship music was pumping through my veins.  I was seeking that joy of sensing every time I read the Word of God it was speaking right to me.  I had lost what I once had.

I was desperate to get back what I had once felt.  I was longing to get back what I had once heard.  I was yearning for God’s still, small voice to become audible in my heart.  But, I didn’t know how.

Then God showed me Matthew 5:6 and I realized I needed to stop trying to do what I had once done to rely on my spiritual growth, but rather I needed to get to a place where I was hungry and thirsty to be in a condition acceptable to God.  It quickly became apparent what I needed to start doing.

The only way to hunger and thirst for righteousness was to get on my knees and ask God for it.  The first step that I have needed to take every time I needed a spark in my spiritual growth has been to pray for God to give me a hunger and thirst for righteousness.

So that is my challenge to you.  Start with a simple prayer.  It doesn’t have to be long.  It doesn’t have to be elaborate.  It just has to be real.

If you want to ignite a newness in your relationship with God, start by asking Him to give you that hunger and thirst….I promise you, it will come.