Tripping Over Typeset

“Mom…I’m hungry!…I’m starving!!!”

In our society, we do not know true hunger. We sometimes skip breakfast and by noon our tummies roar. And in our understanding, in our own words: “We are hungry…we are starving!” Yet a quick drive-thru or jaunt to the kitchen curves those hunger pains and we find ourselves satisfied for a few more hours.

In my own study time, I’ve been focusing on the Sermon on the Mount and my heart keeps coming back to “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)

We are a quick-fix society. We want the remedy– the fix –and with little effort, we usually find an answer….whether it’s food, drink, pleasure or entertainment. We lack for little in material things… but as spiritual beings, we are starving, and at times, mal-nourished.

We fill our souls with fast food, gulping down the “verse of the day” and drink in an inspirational pic from Facebook or a tweeted quote to lift our spirits. But these are just fillers…sweet treats for our day…and shouldn’t be the food that sustains us.  Yet sometimes it is….just a nibble to feed our souls.

It’s one of the ways we’ve been deceived.  We fill our spiritual lives with sound bytes of Truth…drive-by fillers instead of really digging in, consuming and taking in The Truth God has for us as we spend time with Him.

Blessed(Happy) are those who hunger and thirst…Hunger and thirst for righteousness (right living). And not our own righteousness…our own way of right living but God’s right way of living.

Most of us want some degree of right living. We all have some sort of “code for right living” ~ Don’t steal, don’t murder…don’t do the really big wrong things!

I haven’t murdered anyone…but what about anger? Have I injured others with angry, spewing words?

You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder.  Carelessly call a brother ‘idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court.  Thoughtlessly yell ‘stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire.  The simple moral fact is that words kill. ~ Matthew 5:21-22 (The Message)

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. ~ Ephesians 4:29 (NIV)

My own way of “right” living…my own way of dealing…can run contrary to His way. And that’s when we sometimes look for another way to find nourishment, a different answer to solve our delimma…a quick fix or easy solution instead of The Way laid out for us.

It’s sorta of like how Matt, our 4-year-old, made himself a bowl of Cocoa Krispies. He gobbled it down, felt a quick satisfaction but was back in the kitchen within an hour and a half with a hungry stomach. The sugary treat filled for a moment…it took the hunger of the morning away… but didn’t do a lot for nourishment.

We, as a society, fill our lives, but are not satisfied. We seek fulfillment–nourishment–through our careers, jobs, relationships, sex, entertainment, even shopping…but we find ourselves still wanting…still hungry and not truly full.

Jesus says in Matthew 6:33 “Seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

When we seek after Him, live right according to His ways, we find ourselves full, satisfied…our souls nourished…our souls full.

Physically, if I don’t eat well, drink plenty of water and rest well, I find myself cranky.  I wear down faster, my patience is thinner and my temper fuse is short.  Why? Because I’m out of balance.  It’s the same with our spiritual lives.

• Am I starving spiritually from the lack of consuming His Word to me…the Bread of Life? 
• Am I drinking in His Presence, listening and focusing my thoughts on Him and what He is saying to me? 
• Am I resting in His Promises, His Faithfulness and The Truth He speaks over my life?

Blessed {Happy} are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled ~ Matthew 5:6

Challenge for the Week:

• Give yourself time in God’s Word
• Memorize Scripture – a Truth God is working on with you
• Share with someone what God is doing in you