Matthew 5:6

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Do we hunger and thirst after righteousness, do we long to figure out what God commands us to do and long to find out how to then do what he says? Or do we settle for a little bit of sin is fine, living life for ourselves is fine, righteousness is best on Sundays? When I began to truly start hungering and thirsting after righteousness, when I began to desire to be filled enough that it made changes in the way I lived, the more I gave my life to God the more he filled me. I had been addicted to pornography from the time I was 11 years, but in April 2010 I took my first steps in giving that to him and becoming open about it and willing to share the struggle with the goal of getting rid of it. In May 2011 I left for Potters field ranch, following what I thought may or may not be God’s prodding. At this point I was wanting to be righteous, but not wanting to be real with God. June 6^th Monday morning, I felt God leading me to do a week long fast, this was the first time I would say that I felt I knew with a clarity what God was leading me to do. This was also the first fast that I can remember having done. I was longing for righteousness, and now I was starting to do something about it, Thursday I felt God telling me to get engaged, another time he talked to me with clarity. So like the fast I again followed what I thought he was telling me to do. Flash forward a month, after the wedding is postponed I again decided to follow God, and started praying regularly which up to this point praying on my own time by myself was new to me. After church one week I walked forward to the front of the church to ask God to deal with my pride, yet again stepping out in an effort to be truly righteous and since then, he has been dealing with it many ways. Already as the summer had been progressing God had taken my depression from me, and had begun to fill me. Flash forward, I’m in Montana, in pain but longing to be practical in my pursuit of righteousness, in reading the bible and studying it regularly, in praying and fasting regularly, in putting in to practice his words like… Colossians 3:13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. And guess what, the closer I walk with him, the more I hunger and thirst after his righteousness, the more I’m filled. I oftentimes, ask him to show me his will and forget that he’s already revealed so much of it to me, forgetting to look for filling in his righteousness, and instead settling for a form of “righteousness” that satisfies and glorifies myself. Oh that God would keep me close to him despite my failings.

Application-We are given many commandments as to what righteousness is supposed to look like, both by Jesus in the Gospels, and in the writings of Paul, Peter, and the other New Testament authors. I will begin to compile them and each night meditate on one and ask God to illuminate to me how I can practically apply and ingrain it into my life.