I haven’t seen an informercial lately. They are those long-form commercials that demonstrated some product, with exclusive discounts for multiple orders and the ever popular money back guarantee. There is always an emphasis on this guarantee meaning there is no risk for you to lose. If you haven’t ever seen one, I’ve included a video of one that made Ronco millions of dollars from those looking for cooking convenience on their counter top at the end of this post.
All of us know, there are few guarantees in this life. We preachers sometimes use some form of the “your not guaranteed tomorrow, or even the next minute” to communicate the urgency of a belief and trust in Jesus. Our lives are frail. Our circumstances are often changing. Insecurity is really one of our greatest challenges at every level.
So…when I say there is guaranteed satisfaction, I am not using those terms lightly or just to garner attention. I am using them, because they are the truth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Matthew 5:6
It has always intrigued me, the nature of the word that Jesus has spoken here. Blessed and satisfied are like bookends, with a life-defining story in between. Think with me for just a moment. Hunger and thirst are common to all humanity. They are needs to be satiated. We are able to ignore them at varying degrees, but ignoring them totally would mean destruction. In that sense, they are a blessing. Hunger and thirst drive us toward something. In this case, Jesus fully defines what alone will satisfy and that is righteousness. Plug anything else in there and you will always come up short. Power, possessions, sex, drugs…you fill in the blank and we’ve tried them all and found nothing but violence and dissatisfaction.
Satisfaction, biblically, relates to shalom. That is the vision here. That is the story that Jesus desires for each of us. That story finds its source, its climax, and its resolution in the right relationship that is the image of righteousness here. That is a right relationship with our creator, a restoration of His presence in us through Jesus work on the cross and the Holy Spirit within us. That is a right relationship with our neighbor, a restoration of that perfect love (agape) expressed in and through us toward those around us, enabled by the presence of God in us. That is even a right relationship with all of creation, expressed in our responsible stewardship of the resources God has given us in creation…and, yes, even that is an expression of love, directed toward a creation that groans for restoration (see Romans 8:18-30). It’s quite a story. A righteous vision that awakens a hunger and thirst that finds satisfaction, not in ourselves, but in and through the power and presence of God alone.
The other day, we were on our way to an appointment in Greenville, SC. The GPS directions took us through some pretty remote country roads with not a restaurant, not a bathroom stop…needless to say, by the time we arrived to a point of civilization, I was getting a little hangry. Have you ever been there? I needed something to eat. I was moaning a groaning along the way, being a little overdramatic about my need for food. When I finally ate that chicken sandwich, the hanger subsided. My hunger and thirst were temporarily satisfied.
Today, it leaves me wondering. Do we hunger and thirst for righteousness with any intensity that would compare to my hangry need for a chicken sandwich? Chew on that while you watch the infomercial.
Happy Wednesday!
