But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
1 Timothy 6:11 NIV
We have earlier discussed that before anyone can hunger and thirst for righteous, he must be spiritually alive. In other words, he must be born again. As hunger for food is fundamental to the flesh, so also is the hunger for righteousness to the believer’s spirit. Meanwhile, I will trust the Holy Spirit to help us gain insight into the meaning of “hunger and thirst for righteousness”. To help us in this regard, I would like us to consider some other translations of Matthew 5:6.
You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.
MSG
Great blessings belong to those who want to do right more than anything else. God will fully satisfy them.
ERV
Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires; God will satisfy them fully!
GNT
God blesses those people who want to obey him more than to eat or drink. They will be given what they want!
CEV
So, we can see that to hunger and thirst for righteousness is to have a deep longing and desire to do what is right in the sight of God. It is to make living a life that is pleasing to God one’s greatest desire. Having a good appetite for God. This kind of lifestyle completely ignores and forget his desires for the sake of doing God’s will. He is completely dead to himself.
Apostle Paul, in his writing to Timothy, reiterates the demand for this lifestyle with great importance and urgency. We are called to pursue righteousness. Meanwhile, it is important to note that we don’t just come by being hungry and thirsty for righteousness. It is a purpose we pursue and strive for with all our consciousness.
What is righteousness?
Righteousness is the quality of being morally right. It is being in right standing before God; living in a way that pleases Him. It is righteousness that makes a person acceptable to God. Meanwhile, we also know that God is righteous (Psalm 119:137), and so is the Lord Jesus Christ (1 John 2:1). Therefore, anyone that would belong to the Lord must be righteous.
As the Scriptures say: “There is no one who is righteous, no one who is wise or who worships God. All have turned away from God; they have all gone wrong; no one does what is right, not even one. But now God’s way of putting people right with himself has been revealed. It has nothing to do with law, even though the Law of Moses and the prophets gave their witness to it. God puts people right through their faith in Jesus Christ. God does this to all who believe in Christ, because there is no difference at all: everyone has sinned and is far away from God’s saving presence. But by the free gift of God’s grace all are put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets them free.”
Romans 3:10-12, 21-24 GNT
There’s no one born a righteous man, everyone has the sinful nature at birth. So, it is impossible for that nature to pursue a life that’s pleasing unto God. Therefore, we can see again the initial demand to be made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ first, before we can have a genuine hunger for righteousness. Also, it is inseparable from our call to be Christians. We must note that obtaining true righteousness is only possible through faith in Jesus Christ and accepting Him as our Lord and Saviour. He makes us righteous before God and empowers us to live a life that pleases Him.
