PURSUING GOD’S GLORY (3)

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6 NKJV).

 Spiritual thirst is a good indicator that one is spiritually alive. As the dead craves neither for food nor for drink, so the spiritually dead does not crave for righteousness. To hunger and thirst for righteousness means desiring more and more of God in our lives. It is the loneliness of a soul reaching out for deeper intimacy with God. Spiritual thirst is a nagging awareness that we need a dip dive into the water of life where we loose all control to the Holy Spirit. It is a growing sense that there is something more of God than we are getting at the moment and a resolve to go for the more.  It is a craving of the soul for divine companionship. The intensity of our thirst is a measure of the level of our relationship with God –the higher the intensity, the deeper the relationship.

There are two levels of spiritual thirst. First, the thirst for salvation –“And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” (Revelation 22:17 NKJV).  In this scripture the Holy Spirit, through the church (the bride of Christ), calls on sinners to come and drink of the water of life freely. The thirst is satisfied at no price. All that one is required to do is simply to call on Jesus for salvation.  This thirst is satisfied once and for all the moment one puts his faith in the person and the finished work of Christ. Therefore, our Lord told the woman of Samaria –“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water... whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:10, 14 NKJV).  Salvation is a once in a life time unrepeatable experience of being born into the family of God that is accomplished in a person by the Holy Spirit when the person accepts Christ as Saviour (John 1:12-14).

The second level of thirst that demands satisfaction is thirsting and hungering for righteousness. Jesus promised, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6 NKJV). Righteousness means right relationship with God and others that is mediated by Christ. However, the word of God tells us that Jesus is our righteousness ( 1 Corinthians 1:30). Jesus defined Himself as the Bread of Life and the living water that satisfies and refreshes permanently.

“And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.” (John 6:35, 53-56 NKJV)  

As the body needs daily doses of food and water for sustenance and refreshment, so does our souls need daily deepening   intimacy with Christ to remain healthy. Our continuing quest for deeper intimacy with Christ is the way to hunger and thirst for righteousness. Desiring for deeper intimacy with God is the reason for the restlessness our souls feel from time to time. Nothing that we can achieve on our own can satisfy this, not money, not education, not fame, not power. C. S Lewis explains, “If I find in myself desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” Yes, we are meant for heaven, only God can satisfy the deepest longings of our heart.  The more we know Him, the more we want to know Him. Make the pursuit of God’s glory the main job of your life and you will experience Him in a life-changing encounter.

Let us pray with A. W. Tozer, “O God, I have tasted thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still"(The Pursuit of God)