In Matthew 5:6 we read "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Christ says those who have developed a thirst and a hunger for righteousness are blessed people. Many however don’t know what it means to have a hunger and a thirst for righteousness. Let us examine how we can whet our appetite for righteousness, whom we can turn to to feed us, and why this will ultimately satisfy.

Realize our need for Righteousness. Like our body, our soul begins to hunger and thirst once it realizes a need is lacking. "Hungering and thirsting for righteousness" is easily relatable to our physical appetites. Eating and drinking is a very basic part of our lives. We know that we must eat to live. To be able to hunger and thirst after righteousness we must first realize that we need righteousness to live. Righteousness is God’s way of doing things; it is the right way to do things. Mankind has always leaned on its own wisdom, knowledge, and righteousness and gotten no where. Solomon in Proverbs 14:12 tells us "There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death."

It is through keeping God’s commandments that we live, doing things our own way will end up in death. "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). Have you ever desired to drink poison? Why feast your soul solely on sin which poisons and destroys you? Leaning upon our own way of thinking leads only to misery and confusion. We need to feast ourselves on what God wishes for us to eat and drink, that way we may eat life giving food. We need God’s way!

Realize Who Feeds Us. We were born with a desire for something more than this physical life. We see death and the vanity of the physical world’s pleasures and we desire something better. In Ecclesiastes 3:11 the Preacher tells us that God has "set eternity in [our] heart[s]." Man has so far not been able to quench the hunger and thirst that is stirred within us for eternal life.

Once we realize our need for righteousness and God’s way, we need to realize the pangs of hunger and thirst for words of life. Christ in John chapter 6 declares that he is the bread of life. "I am the bread of life." (John 6:35). What does it mean that Christ is the bread of life? Peter sums it up for us later in the chapter by confessing that Jesus has the "words of eternal life" (John 6:68).

Peter asks a pertinent question: "To Whom shall we go?" (John 6:68). No one has ever taught like Christ did. No one has claimed to be God and be the sole way to access God. No one has been raised from the dead to never die again, except for Jesus Christ. The words and teachings of Jesus Christ are where we are going to find the pathway to God and eternal life. We need to be zealous in learning, applying, and teaching the doctrine of our Lord.

Realize We Will Be Satisfied. The blessing of hungering and thirsting after righteousness is that we discover who Jesus Christ is. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount Christ likens those who hear and acts upon his teachings to one who builds his house on the rock, no matter the elements the house will stand. Those who build their life on the teachings of Jesus Christ will not be shaken.

Following Jesus Christ offers us many promises and blessings. Listening to and applying His doctrine will satisfy us on earth as well as in heaven. Following Christ’s righteousness on earth grants us a three-fold peace.

1) With ourselves by giving us the forgiveness of our sins and a release from guilt.

2) With our fellow man by leaving us an example to serve, love, and forgive them.

3) With God by blotting out our transgressions against Him and adopting us as Sons in God’s household.

Jesus Christ is the only avenue where we can find this peace and this satisfaction. Trying to find it in ourselves or other men will end up fruitless. We must turn to the Son of God, the Prince of Peace.