Monday Morning Memo: How Hungry Are You?

We are in the fourth week of looking at the Beatitudes which are found in Matthew 5.  Each of these beatitudes tell us how to be blessed.  “Blessed” means more than happiness.  These beatitudes don’t promise laughter, pleasure or earthly prosperity.  To Jesus, “blessed” means having hope and joy, independent of outward circumstances.  To find hope and joy, which is the deepest form of happiness, we need to follow Jesus no matter what the cost. 

 

Hopefully, as we look at a beatitude each week, it will help us to understand how we can experience this hope and joy that Jesus speaks of…regardless of what is happening around us.  Yes, even when our world seems unhinged.

 

This week we are exploring the fourth beatitude and I will share it from the New International version of the Bible…and then from the version The Message…which puts it in today’s language.

 

Matthew 5:6 in the NIV reads: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

The Message reads:  "You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.”

I don’t know about you, but when I am really hungry, nothing much gets in my way of finding something to eat.  I have heard people make the comment that they were just too busy that day to eat.  I’ve never said that.  I’ve had days in my life when I’ve had an extremely crazy schedule from morning until night…but I’ve always made sure I found the time to eat...and not just once in a day but all three meals!

I think this beatitude is telling us that it should be the same way with spending time with Christ.  I need to make it a priority to rearrange my schedule, no matter how busy it is, in order to set aside time each day for prayer and Bible study.  But how many times have I gotten to the end of the day and realized I never spent time alone with Him?  Of course, I’ve usually used the excuse that I was just too busy.  Huh. I’ve never been too busy to eat…but I’ve been too busy to spend time with my Jesus?  Doesn’t sound right, does it?

Philippians 3:7-11 in The Message says this:

 

“The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God's righteousness.

I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.”

In these verses, Paul was willing to give up anything and everything to know Christ more.  His family, friendships, his freedom – in order to know Christ and experience His power.  Just like Paul, we should value our relationship with Christ as more important than anything else.  To know Christ should be our ultimate goal.  But we aren’t going to know Him unless we are studying His Word and spending time in prayer.  It is so amazing that we have access to His knowledge and His power, but we may have to make sacrifices to enjoy it fully.

"You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.”

It comes down to these questions:  

How hungry are you to know Christ?  What are you willing to give up in order to set aside time each day for prayer and Bible study?  A crowded schedule? Your friend’s approval?  Some of your plans or pleasures?  Whatever it is, knowing Christ is more than worth the sacrifice and I promise you will be blessed for making Him top priority in your life.