Being Hungry

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

BEING HUNGRY

Luke 6:20-23

20 Looking at his disciples, he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. 23 "Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

NIV

Blessed, happy content, satisfied, fulfilled, complete, at those who hunger now, for they will satisfied. Matthew makes this fuller in that he records Jesus saying “Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” What does it mean to hunger? The Greek word peinaoo has a direct meaning of: to hunger, however when used metaphorically it means to crave ardently, to seek with eager desire, with the accusative of the thing, which is referred to Matthew’s record, the thing is righteousness. So, what does it mean to seek with eager desire after righteousness? How can we attain righteousness? There is so much wrapped up within the Greek, with different forms of the same base word meaning righteous. It is somewhat difficult to grasp the fullness of its meaning. This form used in Matthew is different than other forms that are used to render one as righteous or the quality of one who is righteous. What we are seeing is that we are to seek ardently with an eager desire to be righteous, which is the way of thinking, feeling, and acting wholly confirmed to the will of God, and therefore we need no rectification, (The act of correcting or making something right) in our heart or life and that we are approved by God, acceptable to God. We know we can think rightly, because we believe in the one God sent, Jesus. That can be the only way to think, and we are always eagerly seeking more of Jesus, more of the truth to which we have dedicated our life to. When we say that we want to be more like Jesus, we are saying that we want to live in complete conformity to the will of God, for that is how Jesus lived and taught us how to live. In the fullness of righteousness, we know that Jesus is our righteousness, and that as we fully live in Christ, fully eagerly desiring to live in Christ, forsaking all else, even forsaking our own desires for the things of this world, with all its fame and fortune. When we seek after Jesus, when we turn our eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace. When we hunger after Jesus, when we seek after Him, we will be well satisfied.