Jesus’ list of Beatitudes are nothing less than amazing.  Verse 6 brings us to one that perhaps in a single verse summarizes the whole of the Christian life.  It says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (v. 6).  At risk of trivializing a verse of this magnitude, I want to bring up that our dishwasher broke this week and this event helps me illustrate something basic to the point of what Jesus is communicating here. 

If I believed that Murphy’s Law was a real thing, then it was on full go.  I literally just made a declarative commitment that: “Henceforth we the Crotts shall keep thine household dishes clear from thy sinketh!”  Believe it or not, we are actually keeping things going – we were humming!  In a single meal, you can imagine that seven of us can stack up some dirty dishes in short order.  Certainly it takes clear intentionality to keep our kitchen functional.  Here we are off and running and as God would have it, our dishwasher glitched.  Of course, I did what any cellphone owner worth his salt would do. Yes, I YouTube’d it.  Several 30-second how-to videos later had me dissembling things I never knew existed in my unit so I could wash, scrub, and brush with a never to use again toothbrush!  Still, with consult of several of the best dishwasher minds by late morning the next day, declared my dishwasher dead.  The error code had spoken. The immediate pile up of dishes, silverware, and glasses was legendary!  Dishracks of half-washed dishes haunted our kitchen.  Piles were now forming post-apocalyptic oozing towers that were threatening to totter. 

By now, you must be asking, what in the world is the point of all this?  This small (and I mean small) trial is meant to show how significant food is to our household.  Eating and drinking is truly a large part of what sets the atmosphere in a home.  When the rhythm of regular meals is interrupted, there is somewhat of a system shutdown!  And vice versa, when eating, drinking, cleaning, and reset are going well in the home, then all is well.  Face it, food is meant for more than our survival.  I would venture to say that you associate certain kinds of foods with certain friendships or family memories.        

Basic hunger and thirst represent what is necessary for your physical life and your emotional life.  Verse 6 makes an immediate parallel with what we know and experience physically to what we should know and experience spiritually.  Impulses in our natural life make a clear comparison to seeking our Lord and Christ.  Remember David’s heart for God?    

“My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” (Psalm 42:2)

“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” (Psalm 63:1)

What I especially love from Jesus’ beatitude is that the promise of being satisfied is what drives someone’s spiritual appetite.  Allow me to explain what I mean.  When Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteous,” he is actually saying, “Blessed [Happy] are believers who are in a groove of hungering and thirsting for righteousness…”  The language is present and active and ongoing, meaning that someone is staying hungry and thirsty for God.  So what about the promise of being satisfied?  The word “satisfied” is the same word used later in  Matthew when Jesus fed the 5,000.

“And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.” (Matthew 14:20)

Being satisfied is nothing less than being completely stuffed.  Full!  Tying this together with “hunger” and “thirst” means that Christians live in a paradox (like a growing teen-aged boy) always hungry and always thirsty, while always eating to the point of satisfaction.  This paradox means that every time God fills you up, you get hungrier.  We are coming up on thanksgiving and if you have ever had a really big feast, you know what I am trying to communicate from this verse.  At a multi-course meal you eat and drink until you are full and the very state of being satisfied draws you back for more!

Applying this spiritually, we find comfort knowing God loves us.  Joy knowing we are growing because of grace.  Happiness knowing God is sufficient to meet every need. Security knowing our salvation is secure.  This is what it means to receive grace upon grace. 

“And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (John 1:16) 

This the cycle of Christian experience! 

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.” (2 Peter 3:18)

At the feet of Jesus your thirst will be slaked by his inexhaustible wellsprings and endless supply of nourishing bread.  When you seek God and his righteousness with your whole heart, it is then that he will fill your life to the fullest.