Hungering & Thirsting
Hunger and thirst are sensations that are unavoidable in our human lives. They are necessary for survival in our mortal frames which depend on food and water to continue living. The only problem is that after eating or drinking, we hunger and thirst again soon after.
They can even become sinful in the form of gluttony, as we over consume to fill a gaping void in our soul. We seek sinful pleasure over lasting peace, and suffer temporal consequences as a result of those decisions, as well as eternal spiritual ones.
We’re never truly satisfied and keep looking for nourishment as long as we’re on this earth. I think that is a consequence of the fall, but also part of God’s design to give us this innate sense of longing for completion after we’ve chosen to rebel against Him.
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”
Now, take our primal and desperate need for food and drink, and replace it with a beckoning urge for righteousness. Where do we go to find this righteousness? Not within ourselves, but in one who gave His perfectly righteous life for ours.
Jesus refers to Himself as the only one who can satisfy the longings of our soul which inhabits our dying bodies. When talking with the woman at the well, He says,
“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
It is not a coincidence that fasting is one of the best ways for us to devote ourselves to God, for we are literally replacing our hunger for food with our hunger for righteousness. As difficult as it can be, spiritual fasts are an important part of the Christian life.
Much like the priests of the temple making sacrifices over and over again to cleanse themselves and the Israelites of sin, we long to live clean and pure lives for God. The Holy Spirit urges us to do so and gives us this desire for righteousness. But first and foremost, a greater sacrifice was required for us to truly be clean in the eyes of the Father.
Through this justification of Christ’s atonement for sin on our behalf, our hunger and thirst is complete in Him alone. It’s His righteousness that we long for, exactly the way He laid it out. We love Him, and love His law as a result.
In Exodus the law was given, and Jesus simplified it to this: “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Not only did Christ pay this ultimate price, but He also desires and loves to be merciful to us. He wants to give us the gift of salvation, and when He has, there’s nothing we should be more grateful for and nothing that brings greater satisfaction. His love abounds whether we are in sin or living rightly. He says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
Rather than viewing Christ as an addition to our lives, let Him be the foundation and the cornerstone. This is crucial to our faith. Let Him satisfy us fully in the knowledge that He died for our salvation. Let our peace and hope flow from His eternal well each and every day, and our primal desires to eat and drink be replaced by desires to live like Him.
~ Alex Nicholson serves as Music Director and Social Media Coordinator at LIFE Fellowship.