Hungering And Thirsting After Righteousness or Our Agenda?

Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness..."

Righteousness.

Think about righteousness. What is that? What does it mean? In a deeper sense, what does "righteousness" imply? In a practical sense, how does hungering and seeking after righteousness affect your life?

A lexicon gives the Greek as "dikaiosynē." Taken is a broad way, we can, and usually do, wrap our version of evangelicalism around it, claiming it has something to do with salvation. However Christians usually read the Bible through their own brand of denominational glasses, if you know what I mean. In a narrower sense, the word deals with justice or the virtue which gives each his due.

It comes from the root "dikaios," "righteous, observing divine laws" or in a narrow sense emphasises the idea of "rendering to each his due and that in a judicial sense, passing just judgment on others, whether expressed in words or shown by the manner of dealing with them."

In other words, Jesus said blessed is the man who hungers and thirsts after that which is RIGHT, that which is correct, that which is true regarding others, that which is honest, that which can be held up in a court of law, even in a court of divine law, even Heaven's court!

To Jesus, the essence of the kingdom of God was to hunger and thirst after that which is ultimately "right" or correct. Ironically, that "essence" can be found in people of many faiths and in people of no faith. And the opposite can be found in people, in leaders of our own faith.

So how do we react to the evil we find in our own faith? How should we react when we see UN-righteousness among our own camp? What do we do about things that are not right?

We confront it.

We confront it with righteousness that can be held up in a court of law, in Heaven's court. We don't gossip. We don't "backbite." We don't attack the messenger. We confront the error. We confront the evil with truth.

We do not confront it with with emotions, with cliches, with false hopes. We confront it honestly and with truth.

I ask you, is it "righteous" to look at an empty building and claim that "God's will" says move away from it, when the people are all around the neighborhood, waiting to come in?

Is that righteousness?

Is it righteous to tell others we want "to reach lost people" later, when we are obviously NOT REACHING LOST PEOPLE NOW???

Honestly, tell me...is THAT righteousness? Seriously, is it?

Are you willing to honestly look at the situation and cast aside error? Are you willing to embrace the righteousness spoken of by Jesus? Are you willing to admit that which is wrong and confront the error once and for all?

Or will you continue to embrace a lie, knowing it is a lie, refusing to face the truth that stands right in front of your face?

Romans 1 speaks of those who are filled with UN-righteousness, with error. Romans 1:32 says "that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."

Do you have more pleasure in talking about the new building than pleasure in talking to lost people? Do you have more pleasure in talking about moving the church than in inviting lost people to come to church with you next Sunday?

So I ask again, will you continue to embrace a lie, unrighteousness or will you confront it and embrace the truth?

Which will it be for you?

A) The Lie

B) Righteousness...the truth

What is your answer?