We Can Be Righteous - Aligned with God

Matthew 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

After coming to grips (at least a little) with the concept of unanswered prayer last week, we moved on to the second part of the blessing Jesus gave. Here, He promises that if we really want to, we can be filled with righteousness.

First, we worked on defining righteousness. It involves being made right in God's sight. We used the phrase "aligned with God" as perhaps a good description of how we can be changed. Galatians 5:22-23 describes a life that is Spirit-led. Such things as love, joy, peace, and patience should be the natural result of the Spirit at work within us.

This righteousness is based on God's work within us. We can't earn it, and we don't deserve it. But if it's what we hunger and thirst for, it can be ours.

So we then concentrated on what it is like to hunger and thirst for God and His direction.

We thought of times when we'd especially longed to be good, to be more like Christ. Some described deep longings that they couldn't put words to, reminding us that the Spirit helps us pray when we don't know how. We also considered that some of our desires may be poorly focused. What we think we want doesn't turn out to satisfy after all. Isaiah 55 opens with a description of such misplaced efforts: Why spend money on what isn't food? And your labor on what doesn't satisfy?

We were reminded that "hungering and thirsting" are not once-for-all in our natural lives. In the same way, we can get to the point where being close to God is as important on a regular basis as eating or drinking. Perhaps one benefit of fasting (going without food for a while, in order to focus on God) may be to show us what hunger for God can be like.

In addition to fasting, there are other ways to help us focus on our relationship to God.

One person journals her thoughts and prayers. In this way, she can focus her attention on a specific characteristic of righteousness for an extended time period.

Disciplines such as Bible reading, praying, fasting, or journaling can become habits. We do need to make even our good habits intentional, or our "hunger and thirst for God" may become "settle for this much of God."

Discussion also brought out a few more points worth keeping in mind:

• Personal righteousness is internal, not for show. We need the fruit of the Spirit, not just the peelings.
• Righteousness extends to the larger world. As we become more like Jesus, we see that the world around us is not the way it should be. We become concerned about un-right (un-God-like) conditions in our workplaces, our communities, and globally.
• We need to keep our edge. Rather than being content with what we've already gained, we have to focus on becoming more and more like Jesus.
• Circumstances are not a reflection of our righteousness. Bad things still happen. Other people still have free will. This world is still opposed to God. Our best efforts may not improve the situation. But God's promise for this time is that we can be aligned with Him and His purposes. Eventually, the entire universe will be transformed; but not yet.

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