Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
—Matthew 5:6
Self-evaluation is challenging. Check the beatitude boxes: Are you poor in spirit? Do you mourn over your sins? Are you meek? Merciful? Pure in heart? A peacemaker?
The fourth beatitude—hungering and thirsting for righteousness—is a solid foundation on which to build all the rest.
Toward the end of his life, Abraham Lincoln said to a friend, “I have been reading the Beatitudes, and can at least claim one of the blessings therein unfolded. It is the blessing pronounced upon those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.”
Those who come to this beatitude with heart-hunger may not achieve straight A’s in righteousness, but they long for it and work toward it with uncompromising determination. In his mercy, God will judge us not only by our achievements but also by our longings.
You can’t walk with Jesus without hungering
and thirsting for righteousness on the way.