Chapter 5

"Blessed [joyful, nourished by God’s goodness] are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness [those who actively seek right standing with God], for they will be [completely] satisfied."

Our own righteousness has proven to be inadequate to fulfill the will of God for our lives. In fact, without the intervention of the Holy Spirit and grace, we would have never thought about the eternal life Jesus gives us. In Mathew 5:20, Jesus says, "Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in matters of right living, you won’t know the first thing about entering the kingdom."  It is interesting that Jesus does not even say "unless you live like the Pharisees". He says the bar is exceedingly higher than that. Friends, here is the good news: we are not called to live by our own strength, but to live by the strength of Jesus, with the help of the Holy Spirit

Unlike the Pharisees, our mode of operations is filled with much more than shia will and power. Greater men have fallen, trying to lean on their own strength. Jesus says in Matthew 5:13, "We are the salt of the earth". We have been given a mandate by God, each of us, a unique calling and compulsion. In order for us to fulfill what Jesus talks about in Matthew 5:1-26, we ought to walk in righteousness, not our own righteousness but that of Jesus Christ. Through Him, by Him, and for Him.

Our prayer today is that God may put in our hearts a continuous desire to seek and thirst for Jesus, to hunger and thirst for righteousness. May God enable us to always do the next right thing. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

"May we hunger and thirst for you, Jesus, may we thirst for righteousness"