Coming Up Short

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Matthew 5:6

It’s Saturday morning. The house is filled with wonderful things: the sound of bacon frying, the scent of coffee brewing, the sight of ingredients ready to be transformed into pancakes. You’re so excited! You love pancakes. There are things to be added into your pancakes: strawberries, blueberries, chocolate chips, pecans. There are things to top your pancakes: butter, syrup, powdered sugar, jam. There are ingredients to make the pancake batter: eggs, oil, milk. You’re getting hungrier by the minute.

It’s time to mix the batter and flip some flapjacks. Only you’re out of flour. Completely out. You could have pancakes without butter. You could have pancakes without syrup. You could have pancakes without fruit. But you can’t have pancakes without flour. You’re left hungry. 

That’s sort of how life is, spiritually speaking. You look around the world and there are lots of things that catch our attention: sunny days at the beach, baseball games with friends, road trips with family. But the thing that is essential to life—real, eternal life—is righteousness.

When you look around, you find righteousness—things being done in God’s way according to God’s will—is missing. You can live without beach days, baseball, and roadtrips, but you can’t have eternal life without the righteousness of God. You’re left wanting.

Jesus offers good news to those left wanting, those who know this world cannot give them real life. Jesus promises that those hungry for the righteousness God alone can give will one day be satisfied.

Father, there are lots of good things in this world I enjoy, but none of them lead to life. I’m seeking you, knowing your righteousness will come one day.