“Only God can fully satisfy the hungry heart of man.” – Hugh Black

There is story after story throughout history of people overcoming impossible odds to accomplish amazing tasks. One thing is common in all those stories; they were hungering and thirsting for whatever it was they were trying to accomplish. This is the way of accomplishment and success. To those who want it with all their heart, soul and mind goes the victory. Things that are difficult have a way of separating out those who desperately want it from those who are only half-hearted. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness is that kind of endeavor.

The Greek word translated hunger means, to be famished, to crave ardently, to seek with intense desire. The Greek word translated thirst means, to painfully suffer thirst and eagerly long for those things by which the soul is refreshed, supported and strengthened.

It is pretty obvious from these definitions that Jesus wants us to pursue righteousness with more than just a half-hearted attempt. He wants us to crave ardently righteousness; to intensely desire righteousness; to painfully suffer to have righteousness; and to long for righteousness. This is not something we do now and then when we might feel like it. We need to be so starved and thirsty for righteousness we can’t think of anything else. We must have it because nothing else matters.

Let’s also look at the definition of the Greek word translated righteousness. It is, the state of someone who is as they ought to be; it concerns the way in which man attains a state of approval of God; integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking, feeling and acting.

Doesn’t that sound just like the way we are supposed to be? Jesus wants us to be and live the righteous life. He is completely committed to restoring us to this. The intensity He speaks about here is absolutely necessary. Jesus could have said, blessed are those who like or are somewhat committed to righteousness, but He didn’t say anything so benign as this. If we want to be completely restored to the correct way of thinking, feeling and acting, to be filled up to overflowing with righteousness, then we must want this more than anything else in our life. The reason needed for such intensity is that our transgression is a fervent enemy of righteousness. Look what it says in Galatians 5:17:

“For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”

Our distorted nephesh (flesh) and the Spirit of God are at war with each other. The Holy Spirit wants us to be restored to the righteous way we are supposed to be while our transgressor nephesh desperately wants to stop what the Holy Spirit is trying to do. We don’t stand a chance of winning this battle unless we hunger and thirst for it. Not my words but God’s.

The world of sports is a constant reminder of how this works. History is full of great teams or players who never made it to the final game. The victory goes to those who desire it more, to those who work harder and practice more. This is such an integral part of our way of life that it should not surprise anyone that Jesus says we must hunger and thirst after righteousness so strongly that if we don’t get it we will die. Remember, our transgressor nephesh is absolutely opposed to this. Essentially, it wants us to fail in our pursuit of righteousness.

God sincerely wants His family to become righteous. To think, feel and act the way He does. I love the way my friend Jon speaks of this, when he said, “We are to be little Jesus’ in this world.” That is exactly right and the only way to become a little Jesus is to be poor in spirit, to mourn for our bankrupt way, to surrender to the kingdom rule of God, and then to want God’s righteousness so strongly that we will die unless we have it. 

Jesus knows a thing or two about how someone becomes righteous. As I said before in chapter six there are two words that are often confused in the Bible as having the same meaning. Those two words are justification and righteousness. Both words have to do with being the way we are supposed to be but they are different in how they apply to our lives. Let’s look at two verses where these words are used:

“Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.” (Galatians 3:24)

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”     (2 Corinthians 5:21)

The difference in these words greatly affects how they work in our lives. Justification has to do with being declared the way we are supposed to be. Righteousness is being the way we are supposed to be. One is a declared judgment by God as He sees us filled up to overflowing with righteousness. This is justification. The other is our daily practical restoration back into the image of God as seen in how we live life moment by moment. This is the word righteousness. Both justification and righteousness are crucial to our restoration from the transgression/sinner state that we find ourselves in from birth. Being declared perfect is certainly different than actually being perfect. God knows our propensity to sin because of the transgression much better than we do. This is why justification is so important. If He did not declare us perfect, we would never be free to have a relationship with Him based on love. Instead, we would live in constant fear of His judgment. No matter how hard we try to be righteous while living on this earth we will never stop committing sins because we will never stop being a transgressor. This is such an important concept to understand that I need to say this again; because God has declared us justified or perfectly restored to the way we were created to be, we are free to fail in our pursuit of righteousness without feeling condemned by God when we sin. 

God doesn’t just declare us transgressors/sinners perfect and then leave us to flounder through life until the new heaven and earth. He does something magnificent. He sends the Holy Spirit to live inside us who are justified by faith, giving us the ability to actually BE His image again.

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16, 17)

“However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:9, 10)

The Holy Spirit is the determining factor in being freed through justification to have an intimate relationship with God. Without God sealing us with His Spirit in this declared state of righteousness we would live in fear of failing and therefore would never be free to have an intimate relationship with Him.

When we are declared righteous, God seals us in this condition with the Holy Spirit of promise. If we have the promised Holy Spirit, then we have the promised justification and vice-versa. If we are declared justified by God, then we have the Holy Spirit living inside us. This is what it means to be born-again. The new birth is the perfectly righteous Holy Spirit being placed inside us when we are declared righteous. With the Holy Spirit living inside us we can walk in the Spirit, surrender to the Spirit and be led by the Spirit.

What a wonderful gift the Holy Spirit is when we become poor in spirit, mourn for our condition and surrender to God’s rule in our life to do with us as He pleases. With the Helper to guide and direct us toward God we now have the power of God, the peace of God and the joy of God to truly help us as we hunger and thirst after righteousness.

“For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”         (Romans 14:17)

       “For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.” (1 Corinthians 4:20)

Thinking right, feeling right and acting right are the way a human is supposed to be. This is why Jesus became sin so we can once again be the righteousness of God.

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

What is said here in 2 Corinthians is an amazing declaration of who God says we humans are supposed to be. We live in a world that has become content with being bad. In our minds we set such low standards of goodness that we are content with seeing ourselves, ‘not as bad as so and so’. That’s our standard, to not be as bad as someone else. As long as we are not the worst person we know then we feel we are OK.

Fortunately, the standard is set by God, the Creator, and His standard is 100% righteous. He wants us to hunger and thirst for it with extreme desire. This is normal passion for someone in the image of God such as Jesus. This is what Jesus says we should want and attain to, for when we do we shall be satisfied.

The Greek word satisfied means, to supply in abundance, to fatten, to gorge, filled until satisfied. Jesus said if we will hunger and thirst after righteousness we will be filled up with righteousness. That is as amazing a promise as Jesus has ever made. That we transgressors/sinners can be filled up with righteousness the way we are supposed to be. Is your heart pounding right about now? It should be. This is incredible! Filled up with righteousness. This is the potential every one of us has if we will only pursue it the way Jesus tells us to.

So what happens when we fail after being declared righteous by God and don’t act the way we are supposed to? That is the wonder of being justified or declared perfect by the supreme judge of all mankind. God does not lie so if He declares us perfect then perfect we are. And who can un-declare someone whom God has declared perfect? There isn’t anyone above God. That is also the wonder of propitiation. God’s judicial righteousness has been completely satisfied with the sacrifice of Jesus for our iniquity, the sum total of our transgression and sin. Therefore, He is free to lavish us with grace and kindness. This is not only when we act like Jesus, but God will often lavish us even when we don’t live righteously because God’s justification is that secure.

We have been declared righteous and sealed that way with the Holy Spirit of promise. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee that God will never undo His declaration of righteousness. What an amazing reward for responding to God’s gift of salvation through faith.

Look what it says in Hebrews 11:6 in regards to believing.

“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

Our faith is not only in God but we must also believe or respond to God as a rewarder of those who seek Him. Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom telling us the type of attitudes we must have. These attitudes are the actions of our faith. He has a reward for each of these correct attitudes we have in response to His promises. So it is not just having faith in God. As you can see in this verse, we must also believe He rewards us with these remarkable gifts He promises for each of our right responses to Him.

So when the Bible says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish; but have eternal life,” (John 3:16) the proper response is to hunger and thirst for the righteousness that comes as the result of God sending His only begotten Son to be the sacrifice for our sins.

When Jesus says, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven,” (Matthew 5:20) our response should be to hunger and thirst after a righteousness that is greater than the best religious leaders of Jesus’ day lived. Their righteousness was based on how well they obeyed the Law of the Old Testament and they failed miserably at that.

Jesus wants our righteousness to be as right as Adam and Eve were when they were first created. That is only possible when we are justified, or declared as righteous as we are supposed to be through a faith that is completely assured that God will do what He says – a faith that responds to God’s promises with living conviction.

What would this response look like in our daily actions, thoughts and feelings for all the rewards God gives for being, poor in spirit, for mourning, for being gentle and for hungering and thirsting after righteousness? To best answer this let’s bring back Prodigo and walk through his life as he responds to these wonderful gifts of God.

 

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