Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
Being a God chaser is a happy state indeed. Jesus is sharing the fourth value of the Kingdom of God. I would define it this way: you will find the deepest happiness through a passionate pursuit for a right relationship with God and people. Righteousness is all about relationships.
When Mary heard Rachel’s greeting and John leaped in her womb, she proclaimed, “He has filled the hungry with good things…” (Luke 1:53, NKJV). Being a God chaser after right relationships begins with the admittance and hunger that you don’t have the righteousness within yourself and you long for more of God. Not only does a Kingdom of God disciple renounce his or her rights (earlier blog), but we also renounce our own righteousness.
We can have as much of God as we desire! We are supposed to stay hungry!
The ways of the kingdom are counterintuitive: only in the Kingdom of God is it true that the more we eat, the hungrier we are. And the less we eat, the less hunger we have. Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37-38, NKJV). The more you eat, the more you drink, the more you overflow.
Paul understood this—the “Philippians 3 God Chaser.” Paul was always hungering and thirsting for more. He wrote, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.” (Philippians 3:12-13, NKJV).
Stay hungry for more righteousness by staying focused on more of Christ! There’s always more to experience. God will fill you up. Let’s stay hungry and happy.
Chasing after God,
Steve
Steve Holt M.A., D.D.
My newest book, Worshipper Warrior, can be found at www.steveholtonline.org
and www.amazon.com
