How Spiritually Hungry Are We?

In Matthew 5:6, when Jesus used the figurative terms, “hunger” and “thirst,” He conveyed the idea of strong desire and longing. These two physical appetites are very compelling drives that God has placed in human beings. Unless we have never been without nourishment, or been deprived of water for a long period of time, we cannot really appreciate the figures used by Jesus in this verse.

Since most Americans fare sumptuously every day (in fact, many are obese), the only real hunger we ever experience is that which comes from various self-imposed diets. Unfortunately, these diets are usually doomed to failure, because of insufficient self-control over our appetites to continue deprivation for long periods of time. We know that when an individual cultivates an appetite for junk foods, he may feel temporarily satisfied, but eventually his body will suffer from malnutrition. For example, children love ice cream, but a steady diet of it would not be good for the proper nourishment of their bodies. Left to themselves, they would prefer sweets over essential protein, vitamins and minerals in other foods, and their bodies would suffer for it.

Let’s bring the above physical observations down into the spiritual realm. While most men and women have a spiritual appetite, not all spiritual “hungering and thirsting” produce the proper spiritual nourishment for the soul. The New Testament states that proper “hungering and thirsting” must be “after righteousness” (the quality of being right or just before God). For example, Paul said of the gospel, “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith…” (Romans 1:17).

“The righteousness of God” here does not refer to God’s personal righteousness, but to God’s “way” of making man righteous through the gospel message – “by faith” (Romans 1:17b). Man’s ways (Proverbs 16:25) of seeking God (through various religious organizations and doctrines), though they may temporarily satisfy one’s personal desire, will never make him truly righteous in the sight of God (cf. Matthew 7:21; Romans 10:1-3).

Those individuals who have no intense spiritual appetite, can never be “filled,” because there is no incentive or desire which will motivate them to seek God and His forgiveness (cf. Luke 18:9-14). And those who gorge themselves with false teachings from false teachers, may inwardly “feel” satisfied, but their souls are not really nourished – their eventual end being destruction (cf. 2 Peter 2:1-22). Only those who intensely hunger and thirst after God’s righteousness (“His way” – Psalm 25:8-10; cf. 2 Timothy 2:15; Acts 17:11 ASV), will be filled!

Dear reader, how spiritually hungry are we ..... for God’s way?

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets