Matt 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
	We are in the process of our consideration of the Beatitudes with a concern as to what they show us of Jesus Christ. The reason that we should be so vitally concerned with this is the reality that what Christ shared on that mount is to be a very integral part of us today, as members of the Church, His Body. These are not just ideals to which we should have aspirations of attainment. Rather, He is outlining that which will be true of those who believe upon Him, if they will give themselves wholly to the Sovereignty of His Lordship.
	Where Christ reigns, these truths will be evident in the very lives that we live. It is not a matter of our striving after them, but simply that these are now our characteristics in Him, and to be evidenced in our every relationship on this earth. Christ never wavered from one of these. He couldn’t because they are the make-up of His Being. The same is now true of us. The actuality is that it should register when we are not in line with these characteristics, because that is an indication that we are not living by the new life that is ours in Him. When we do not exhibit these traits, it is unnatural, and should be recorded in our hearts as such. Thank God that we have the Holy Spirit actively revealing this to us and showing us what is now true of us in all the lovingkindness of God!
	As a quick aside, we sometimes have the idea that these characteristics, defined by Christ in the Beatitudes, need to be worked into us. But, in all sincerity, that is not precisely what is taking place. Instead, we should be continually discovering what is no longer true of us, and giving ourselves over to that which is now our very nature in Christ. It becomes a completely different focus in our lives as we discover that God doesn’t have to give us anything else. It is done and it is complete in Christ! Instead, we need to recognize what is now true and what is no longer true in us. This recognition takes place as we are in obedience to the Word of God, and walk on this earth in the life of Christ, Who now is our life. 
	I tend to struggle with this, asking the Lord to reveal Himself and to help me walk in Him. That is like a fish asking to learn how to swim. A fish swims naturally, because that is the nature that God implanted in it. The same is true of us. We live forth in Christ, because He now is our life. The indwelling nature of Christ is now our very nature, to live on this earth in accordance to that which pleases our Heavenly Father. No excuses, no efforts on our part, no need to find ourselves, NO! Simply live in the life that is now our very life, and forget the pretexts and the doubts and the camouflaged motives of our old nature which is still trying to insinuate itself into some place in us. When we are disobedient, it is not because we haven’t learned what we should have done, it is because we wanted to disobey. When we sin, it is because we wanted to taste the defiled muck that this world puts forth as delicacies. Forget it! Any excuse that we can offer as a cover-up has absolutely no standing before God. Get over it, as someone near and dear has so often pointed out! Ask forgiveness, forget it, leave it in that grave and walk in Christ! Live out from Him and celebrate His nature of being which is now our very nature, this moment and for eternity.
	That is where we are in our current discussions, after all, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. When we consider what is held within this statement, it should bring us to our knees with a joy that God is so faithful in our lives, even when we are not. Let us not dwell too much on the negative that we bring into our relationship with God, but let it be known that in our human lives, we are far less than perfect in our desire after God. We have those times where we are on fire for the Lord, as it has been stated, and we can’t get enough of Him. We run from meeting to meeting and we seek after constant fellowship in him. Sometimes, we are even wondering if we should quit our jobs because we can’t stand that environment without its complete focus on the Lord. We are so after more of the Lord, that we seemingly just can’t get enough to be satiated. 
	While this is certainly not something to be ridiculed or demeaned, it would seem to be similar to a kid loose in a candy store, if you’ll pardon that expression. It is great for a time, but then it gets old and our fervor seems to diminish after thrill is gone, as it is often stated. You see, in that initial longing after God, we are being controlled by our emotional responses and desires. We are so enamored of God, because of the wonderfulness of Himself as opened up for what He has done for us in our salvation, that we crave after Him. That is more often the case, than a true hunger and thirst. We are sincere in our passion after Him, and we are longing for more of Him. But, sometimes, that longing is out of fear that we might lose out, not get our fair share, might even find that the store will be empty the next time we return.
	As we grow in our relationship with the Lord, unfortunately, sometimes, that fire after Him is quenched. It isn’t that we lose our salvation, as some would fear. It is that our emotional responses to God are drained. As with anything based on our human seat of passion, the thrill eventually loses its sharpness, and we try to find something else that will excite our senses. That is the danger of living by our human emotions, even if we think that they are focused on spiritual truths. 
	Rather, we need to live in the truth of the Word of God, the living Word of God. It is in the virtue of the splendor of Christ where we need to lose ourselves completely. It then that we begin to realize that there is far more in the depth of Christ than we could ever imagine. Our once emotional fire is, hopefully, refined into an awe of God because He is God. Rather than running to and fro, trying to maintain an emotional high, there should develop a deep and earnest sense of wanting to know God in an enthralled awareness of His grandeur and glory. 
	This vital relationship can’t be motivated by any concept of self-benefit or self-absorption, but rather an ingrained need to simply know more of Christ for the very sake of Christ alone. At that point, we will discover that we are truly hungering and thirsting after the righteousness that is our God.
	This is where some have possibly taken a spiritual truth and tried to make it something that will fit into a mold of human understanding. There are those, who look at this particular passage in the Sermon on the Mount, and use it to justify themselves and their actions on a human level, to bring about a sense of perceived righteousness on this earth. That is, they may use this portion of the whole text to vindicate actions that they take upon themselves in order to establish their own sense of maintaining a balance of good and evil in their dealings with others. All manner of actions have been done with the mistaken idea that the righteousness of human understanding is the same as the righteousness of God. Neighbors have been sued, to put them back into their place. Spouses have been divorced and discarded under the guise of righteous indignation. Families and churches have been split asunder with the banner of the sake of righteousness at the forefront. Through it all, the alibi has been one of hungering and thirsting after righteous to be established, as if any man can determine what the righteousness of God is in his own heart.
	Only One has been eternally righteous, and He was made to be our righteousness. That is Jesus Christ. We do not become righteous in our actions, and in our selves, no matter how noble we may deem ourselves and our causes. Only Christ is all righteousness, and any standing that we have before God is in Him and in Him only! He alone knows what is pleasing to the Father, and what is pleasing to the Father in every situation. To hunger and thirst after righteousness is to hunger and thirst after Christ Jesus to be completely established as our life.
	John 6:35 and John 7:37+38 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh unto me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst...If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
	This is where the central issue of our lives come to the fore-front. What is it that we feed upon to receive our sustenance on this earth? We know what sustains those caught in the deceit of this age. They are constantly fed the meager portions of self-indulgence in order to intensify the grip of this realm upon their hearts. The sin of this age throws its slaves the scraps that are not fit for swine, as the Prodigal son discovered in his rags of self-worth and determination. 
	We have all been there, and that is why there should be an intensifying zeal to bring freedom and true food to those who are still mired in the muck of this age. It is heart rendering to see people, in starvation, meagerly going through the mazes of this realm with no clue. They do not realize the true freedom and feast that is theirs if they will but turn to God and, just like that Prodigal Son, seek after Him. They will also discover that He will not take them in as servants, but rather will kill that fatted calf for the celebration of their return unto Him. They, as are we, are made members of the very family of God, in Christ. That is why there is so much rejoicing as the Church learns of those who are now made part of the Body in their acceptance of Jesus Christ. It is a New Birth that is worthy of jubilation in each instance. 
	We are to hunger and thirst after righteousness, are to find our sustenance in Jesus Christ and in Him alone. Adam Clarke refers to this hunger and thirst in the following manner: 
As the body has its natural appetites of hunger and thirst for the food and drink suited to its nourishment, so has the soul. No being is indestructible or unfailing in its nature but God; no being is independent but him: as the body depends for its nourishment, health, and strength upon the earth, so does the soul upon heaven. Heavenly things cannot support the body; they are not suited to its nature: earthly things cannot support the soul, for the same reason. When the uneasy sensation termed hunger takes place in the stomach, we know we must get food or perish. When the soul is awakened to a sense of its wants, and begins to hunger and thirst after righteousness or holiness, which is its proper food, we know that it must be purified by the Holy Spirit, and be made a partaker of that living bread, John 6:48, or perish everlastingly. 
	The idea of hunger and thirst are precise terms that define the intense desire that should be ours after the things of God. They are the driving force of our lives on this earth, as they should be the driving force of our spiritual lives. What do I mean by this? Simply, on this earth, thirst and hunger have utmost priority in the scale of our existence. Our bodies cannot survive without this sustenance. We can survive without everything else. Even the seemingly insurmountable strength of carnal desires are secondary in the hierarchy of what we need in order to live. That is why there is such an emphasis in our school systems to make certain that low income students at least receive food at school. Students can’t learn if they lack sustenance for their bodies. There is no mental growth, no physical growth, no growth. 
	The same is true of our spiritual hunger and thirst. That desire must be met, and thank God that He does so fully and lavishly in Christ. 	Is. 55:1+2 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
 	Here again, we realize the lack of what this world offers. There is an inherent desire after some kind of spiritual growth. That desire has been instilled in man by God. How else can one explain all the spiritualism that infests this realm? Even the most primitive of mankind has a desire after something spiritual, to the point of creating some godlike being to worship, whether that be stone, wood, or gold. There is a hunger after something to fill the void that only can be filled by Jesus Christ.
	It is there, in Him alone, that our spiritual needs are fully satisfied. Just like food and water meet the daily needs of our physical body, so the spiritual hunger and the thirst are daily quenched in the Person of Jesus Christ. And, just as our body manifest its continued need for sustenance with those earnest longings of hunger and thirst, so the same is true of our spiritual life. We need Christ more and more each day. Our daily needs are fully satisfied, yet there is a greater desire that develops as we progressively live forth from Him. Where once, we might have considered ourselves somewhat self-sufficient, and only needed Christ for those major problems and difficulties that arose in our lives, each day the greater need for Him becomes even more evident. We realize, at some point, Lord willing, that we just cannot live without Him. We hunger and thirst for Him with an ever increasing zeal. Ps 42:1-3 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
	God never leaves us high and dry. As we seek after Him, so He manifests Himself in greater abundance, day in and day out. We are never without the full issue of living water and honeycomb to make our lives the testimony of His demonstrated grace. Our spiritual hunger and thirst, while increasing in intensity, is never left unanswered. Those who hunger and thirst are satisfied in the goodness of our God, for our sake, yes, but more importantly for His sake. He proves Himself in the manner in which He cares for His Body. He nourishes it with the fullness of Himself in all His Glory. This should stir in us that which was proclaimed by the Psalmist in the 63rd Psalm, verses 1-3, O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.
	There should be a well-spring of praise in our hearts for the manner in which God makes Himself known in lovingkindness and gentle mercies in every instance of His Grace. There should be a thankfulness that characterizes our every moment on this earth for the bountiful blessings of God that are bestowed upon His Body in our pilgrimage through this earth. There should be a constant passion for Christ to manifest Himself in His Body to those who are in such desperate straits of slavery in this realm. And, there should be an increasingly developing hunger and thirst after that which only Christ can satiate. He promised all of this in Himself in John 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. And as we have recorded in Jer. 31:25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. 
	Let us together seek after the Holy Spirit to continue to make known that which is now true of us in Christ. The Love of God so richly and abundantly lavished upon us in Christ should stir up an even greater hunger and thirst after thoroughly pleasing the heart of God. He has blessed us to the utmost in Christ, and we should be living forth in Christ to His absolute blessing in all of creation. As He is our sustenance so will our lives show forth the manifest Glory of God to His praise and His honor and His adoration.
	Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.