We come now to kind of the pivotal in the Beatitudes. The first three are about our relationship to God. 1. We realize we are nothing and have nothing to offer. 2. We sorrow over our sin and wicked state. 3. We humble ourselves before Him and realize Jesus Christ alone is everything. And then – Jesus says “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)
When we have truly come to know Jesus Christ, and begin to realize how awesome and amazing He is and all that He offers, it should drive us to desire Him more and more. To find out ALL there is to know about Him and to have the hearts desire to draw as close as we possibly can to Him – no matter what it costs us. We become like Paul who wrote, ” But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—” (Philippians 3:7-9) He realized NOTHING was more important than growing in his relationship with God and coming to know Jesus Christ more.
Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:2-3 “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” Once we have truly experienced God, we want to get as much of Him as we can possibly have. Like a baby who at first may not let you put ice cream in his mouth because he doesn’t know what it is….as soon as he tastes it – he wants more and more of it.
And note, Jesus tells us, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Not, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, but they’ll never be satisfied……no, He tells us “THEY SHALL BE satisfied.” If we truly want to grow closer to God and come to experience Him, we can. The Bible tells us “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” (James 4:8-10) If we HUNGER and THIRST after God, NOTHING will be more important than Him in our lives. AND – ANYTHING that is in even the smallest way keeping us from knowing Him more will become WORTHLESS to us.